Elizabeth and her Mommy and Daddy are at the kitchen table.  Mr. Mawakasunga is reading the letter from Pastor Ed about Stewardship.  Maybe your family got a letter like this from Pastor Hardy.  Stewardship is about what we do with all our time and our talents and our money . . . AND . . . what we give back to God, since He gave it all to us in the first place, anyway!

Mr. Mawakasunga said to his wife “Pastor Ed is asking us to tithe if possible.”  When you tithe, that means you give 10% of what you have back to God.

“I don’t think we can tithe, good grief, we have a lot of other things we do besides church.” said Mrs. Mawakasunga.  “Oh, Elizabeth, did you practice the piano yet today?”  Elizabeth did not answer.

“Well,” said Mr. Mawakasunga “Let’s make a list.”  So he took a piece of paper and drew a line down the middle.  He titled the left side “God’s” and he titled the right side “Ours”.

“The first thing that goes on the right side is House payments and Car payments.” So he wrote those down. 

“Don’t forget groceries.” said Mrs. Mawakasunga.  “And eating out twice a week.  Elizabeth?  Piano?”  Elizabeth did not answer.  She doesn’t really mind taking piano lessons, but she greatly dislikes practicing every day!

“My only hobby is golfing.  And our vacations every summer.” So those were written down also.

“That doesn’t really leave that much left to give to church.” said Mrs. Mawakasunga.  “I don’t know what we can give up.”       

 Elizabeth quickly said “I’ll give up piano lessons!  That would save money.” 

“That only leaves this much left to give.” continued Mr. Mawakasunga.  “Elizabeth, your mother told you to go practice the piano.” 

“But I don’t want to.” whined Elizabeth.

Mrs. Mawakasunga said “You know, you should count the times I take food for the Garden Of Eatin’ Café, and the time I spend in the church kitchen helping with dinners sometimes.  And we should also count your time at the Council meetings every month, and Elizabeth’s time in the choir?” 

“Hmmm.” said Mr. Mawakasunga, “Let’s see . . . 7 days a weeks times 24 hours in a day = 168 hours per week.  10% of 168 would be more than 16 hours EVERY week.  We don’t make it that way either.  We are so busy, we just don’t have 10% left over.”

Elizabeth interrupted to say “Mommy, I REALLY don’t want to practice the piano.  Why do I have to?”

Her mother explained  
     1. Because it is good for you. 
     2. And practicing every day helps you learn self-discipline and what is important. 
     3. Even if it is not fun now, it will make you feel better about yourself in the future.

Mr. Mawakasunga thought about what his wife had said about piano lessons.  And it seemed to him that a lot of that would make sense about good stewardship too. 
     1.  Good stewardship is good for you.
     2.  Practicing good stewardship every day helps you learn self-discipline and what is important.
     3.  Even if it is not fun now, it is the kind of practice that will make you feel better about yourself in the future.

Mr. Mawakasunga looked at his list, at the items that were listed on the right and the $21.00 listed on the left.

And he reflected about God, and that God HAS given them every thing they have. 

And he announced his decision.  “We will give God what is right . . . not what is left.  Now, we just need to figure out what is right!”

So, Elizabeth practiced the piano as required while her mother and father figured out their pledge card for Sunday.

THE END

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