Three seers were encouraged to find what had been called the cave of wisdom and life. They made careful preparations for what would be a challenging and arduous journey. When they finally reached the place of the cave, they noted a guard at the entrance. They were not permitted to enter the cave until they had spoken with the guard. He had only one question for them, and he demanded that they answer only after talking it over with one another. He assured them that they would have a good guide to lead them through the regions of the cave. His question was a simple one, “How far into the cave of wisdom and life do you wish to go?”

The three travelers took counsel together and then returned to the guard. Their response was, “Oh, not very far. We just want to go far enough into the cave so that we can say that we have been there.”

The response of the guard manifested none of his great disappointment as he summoned someone to lead the three seers a short distance into the cave. Before very long, they had completed their journey, and he watched them set out again to make the voyage back to their own land. (From Paula Ripple’s Parable of the Cave, included in The Sower’s Seeds, by Brian Cavanaugh) 

October brings, in the opinion of many, the most beautiful time in nature’s seasonal cycle. The changing colors of foliage, the crisp air, and the late afternoon shadows, all together make for one of my favorite outdoor experiences. Actually, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I fell in love with this time of year. My wife and I were in Charlottesville, VA, for my brother’s ordination to ministry. We decided to stay an extra day and go into the Shenandoah mountains for an afternoon hike. 

As we hiked, I sensed the reality of God and an inspiration towards life. The waterfalls, diverse colors, and leaves dropping and dancing with the wind, issued a remorseful reflection. Why had I waited so long to experience nature like this? Why hadn’t I come to the mountains sooner or spent more time in the woods around which I had grown up? This inspiration and painting of God was here the whole time, and yet it was overlooked by my distracted and subjective opinion of where God was and wasn’t to be found. 

Nature isn’t the only place I have overlooked God and a conversation with him. There are many times and ways I have understated the calling of stewardship, missing my opportunity to reflect on how everything I have is a gift from God, and why I would be poor without Him. Jesus said the poor in spirit were those who were blessed. The words poor and blessed don’t match up well with secular thinking; yet, in the Kingdom of God and within the Christian soul, they collide and stick like two powerful magnets. 

The poor in spirit acknowledge their richness in God. Their confession and testimony branches out from a life-filled embrace of the blessings of God. They trust God, and their hearts and minds are open to find God where He wants to be found. Their souls don’t limit the language of stewardship to discussions of money and tithing, but they see the entirety of life as a pilgrimage of stewardship. 

My professional life allows me to work with churches in their fundraising projects. The other day, during an informational meeting with church members on the subject of a proposed family life center, I found myself thinking about stewardship. For this church and these members, this was one of those moments in life that doesn’t come around everyday. Here they were, thinking about whether or not to proceed forward and help fund a multi-million dollar project. I saw their faces and wondered what must be going on in their hearts. Many of them must of have been thinking about stewardship. Was their calling as Christian Stewards to support this building? Not only that, but what about the idea of expansion? Isn’t their calling as Christian Stewards to be skillful carriers of the idea itself? I personally think it is, and so did they. For them, being a fine steward of the idea meant bringing it to members of the congregation to get their input about the concept. It also meant discussing the idea with an architect and a builder to get their professional advice as to what the right decision would be. Ideas, money, conversations, professional advice, prayer, walking amongst falling leaves—are all matters of stewardship, treating everything as a blessing from God, handling everything with a reverence for the holy and an expectation to experience more of God. 

The three seers in the opening story made the mistake of limiting their experience with the cave. What could have been had they only gone in all the way and opened their hearts to a deeper journey? Their blessing may have become a changed outlook on life, possibly an insight into personal problems that would have given them enough grace to live through it. But they overlooked the opportunity of stewardship and the reality that they are poor and in need of God’s blessings.

We too, as we travel our own existence, can live as the seers and live with our own personally managed theologies about God and stewardship, or we can admit our poverty and our need for more. As October brings with it a breathtaking outdoor experience of God, let’s all do our best to go and meet Him there. There and all the other places and ways that we, the poor in spirit, can embrace the help and provision of our God. 

Copyright Sean K. Mitchell

Sean K. Mitchell is a fundraising consultant and a creative writer. He is also the author of The Financial Pilgrimage, a book that helps Christians embrace a fresh approach to financial decisions and Christian living. For more information on the book or more of Sean’s writings, visit www.seankmitchell.com.