God wants His children to marry and raise children. When that is not possible, we can follow the example of Adam and Eve while they were still in the Garden of Eden: multiplying and replenishing the earth by tending the personal gardens in which God has placed us.
“Ye Are My Stewards”
We treat things differently when we are caretakers instead of owners. Everything we have been blessed with belongs to God, including our families and our own bodies, and we are accountable to Him for the way we use the resources He had entrusted to us.
Don’t Pollute Your Inheritance
Church members in Missouri lost their homes because "they polluted their inheritances." So many of the blessings we enjoy are unearned — bequeathed to us by other people or by God. We "pollute" those gifts when we neglect them or use them in a way that is contrary to the intent of the giver.
Rendering an Account of My Stewardships
Inherent in a stewardship is the responsibility to give an accounting. The Lord said that all stewards must "render an account of [their] stewardship, both in time and in eternity." The reports that we give in this life, like King Benjamin's end-of-life review of reign, prepare us for our ultimate accounting before God.
Three Traits for Trustworthy Leadership
God expects stewards to demonstrate three qualities: faithfulness, justice, and wisdom. Doctrine & Covenants 51 teaches that principle, echoing the Savior's words in Matthew 24. King Mosiah emphasized that the same traits qualify civic leaders. We should strive to incorporate these qualities in our stewardships, and we should uphold leaders who do the same.
Maintaining vs. Regaining
Moroni was angry when the city of Nephihah fell to the Lamanites, because he knew "that it was easier to keep the city from falling...than to retake it." This is true of so many things, including our physical and spiritual health and our relationships.
Stewardship
I wrote earlier this week about the importance of acting "as for years"—treating your home, your job, and your other responsibilities as if you would have them forever, and investing for the long term. I quoted Brigham Young saying that he would continue to spend money to improve his home until the very last day... Continue Reading →
Because of Their Indifference – Alma 59:9, 13
9 And now as Moroni had supposed that there should be men sent to the city of Nephihah, to the assistance of the people to maintain that city, and knowing that it was easier to keep the city from falling into the hands of the Lamanites than to retake it from them, he supposed that... Continue Reading →
God Has Entrusted You with These Things – Alma 37:14-16
14 And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations.15 And now behold, I tell you by the spirit... Continue Reading →