Stewardship
In the movie Dances with Wolves, there is a powerful scene that embodies the concept of stewardship. The Sioux tribe in which Kevin Costner’s character has become a de facto member, goes on a buffalo hunt. They are very successful and take dozens of the animals. After the hunt, the tribe’s camp is shown in all its rushed activity. All across the camp, people work to make use of the buffalo. Every part of the animal is used: the meat is eaten, the hide is tanned and used for the walls of teepees and the coats of the tribe, the sinews are stretched for the strings of bows. Later, when the tribe comes upon a herd of buffalo, slaughtered, stripped of their hides and left to rot on the plains, their disgust at the waste is intense.
The Sioux tribe in Dances with Wolves are stewards of the land, and stewards of the buffalo. They maximize the potential of the buffalo as resources. They do not waste any opportunity the animal presents.
As recipients of abundance in this life, we must cultivate complete stewardship of our own resources, both financial and those that come through our inborn skills and talents. This optimization of resources is not a one-time event. As wealth grows, new opportunities will present themselves. Through education stewardship improves and new opportunities are maximized as tools of value production. In this way, stewardship fosters greater and greater stewardship.