#SYNONYM TREASURED PROFESSIONAL#
No Longer A ChildĮven though many of my childhood years were usurped, my potential to be a professional athlete was eliminated, and the prospects of building a financial empire were thwarted because of the church, I did gain an appreciation for what it meant to be a steward. Again, I’ll save that story for another time. I bet you are starting to understand my voluntary absence from Church. So, it made absolutely no sense to me that I would be forfeiting even 1% of what little I had for a God that had everything already and pastor that I didn’t even like much less love. I was poor, and my money needed to go towards the purchase of school clothes, lunch, girls, etc. cutting grass, raking leaves, shoveling snow, etc.) into the church offering plate.Īlthough, I understood this financial requirement it was baffling. My mom’s unconditional mandate that I was to put a portion (10%) of my allowance and side hustle income (i.e. Each Sunday, I was expected to make a financial contribution to the church - more specifically I was to make a sacrifice to God and give a special love offering to the pastor. The third-word, treasure, was the one thing that I did understand. Yet as you can tell from all the time I was compelled to spend in the church there was little time left to develop my athletic talents. If I had any budding talents, I would have stated that I had potential as a basketball or football player. There was no praise dancing in my day and even if praise dancing had been an option, let me assure you that it wouldn’t have been an option for me. I couldn’t sing well enough to be featured in the choir. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t have any talents to give. The second word talent was equally perplexing. And I bet you no doubt would have agreed with the young me who understood the word time to mean ‘you won’t have time to do anything but go to church’. For starters, I equated the word time with the requirement to be in church around the clock - all the time - Sunday school, Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, Wednesday night bible study, Friday night fish frys, Saturday summer barbecue dinner sales, summer vacation bible school, the Easter play, the Christmas pageant, and on and on and on. As a child, the stewardship requirements of time, talent, and treasure made very little sense to me. Time, Talent, and Treasureįirst, another admission that I can make now that I don’t live with my parents. Moreover, my village was convinced that church was a place to develop stewardship - one’s responsibility to give their time, talent, and treasure in service of something greater than themselves. My village which included folks like my mother, grandmothers, uncle, surrogate uncles & aunts, and play cousins seemed determined to make sure that I had a relationship with the Creator. Fortunately, I’m no longer a child living in my parents’ home, so I can tell you the truth about my involuntary church attendance.ĭuring my childhood, it wasn’t just my mother who used strong-armed tactics to compel church attendance - it was my entire village. Often the compulsion to attend church was coupled with the threat of corporal punishment, dessert deprivation, and in-home solitary confinement.
Maybe I’ll explain that story at another time.įor now, I just want you to know that when I was a child, I was forced to go to church a lot. My voluntary absence from the Church is a long story. It’s been a while since I last set foot in a church. Now for whatever its worth, I want you to know that if you do take my advice and attend a church, I won’t be there. Seriously, churches have mastered the promotion of the stewardship concept. However, if by some extraordinary circumstances those three words are new to you, you should visit a church immediately. You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “time, talent, and treasure”.
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