What if we fell in love with stewarding? As a concept, a process, a commitment, a privilege, a possibility.
The land I live on is land I steward. The land you live on is land you steward. We do not own or rent this land. All of that is imaginary. We are not in charge of this land. Imagine, trying to be in charge of nature. You can try to grow things on your land, but the land will have the final say. You can try to cleanse the space of weeds, but they will return. Our footprints steward land. So do our tire tracks. Our stewardship can take a toll or it can restore us to right relationship. When we see our behavior toward our lands as stewardship we get curious. We ask who cared for this land before us, and how it came to us. There is a sense of responsibility within the word that is important. It holds a weight that we should all make room to carry. The concept of stewardship also helps me when I am spiraling about the human impact on the health of our planet. When I turn to stewardship, I remember that I am in charge of these two acres. Then, I am in charge of everywhere I bring my body and how I bring it there and how I interact with the land and space once I am there. This mindset shows me where my responsibility lies. The same is true for you.
Speaking of bodies, what if we thought of taking care of ourselves as stewarding a body? When I see my body as “me” I am more likely to ignore it when it is telling me it needs something that I don’t “have time” to give it. On a day with a lot of physical pain and a runaway episode of Bad Thoughts TV, I am more likely to scoff at my body when it wants a walk. However, when I think of myself as the steward of this scarred, tired little vessel made of stardust and digested food, I am more likely to go on the walk. I am more likely to receive care. I am responsible to this body. It is an incredibly intelligent, magical technology. Thus, I should follow its lead as I do the land.
I’ve started reminding myself that I also steward my relationships. I am not in them. They are not an entity. They are a process. They require different tending and skills from day to day. They are in motion. I invite you to do the same. As I work toward more intentionality in my relationships, I want to see them from a long-term point of view. As something I am responsible for for a lifetime. This will require care throughout. This mindset allows relationships to evolve without the temptation to constrict around them when change feels unfamiliar. Stewarding has an element of witnessing to it. We have to give things space to see how they want to grow. We have to watch them go through their natural cycles. We have to see them as more than the here and now.
What if you were a steward of time? Of nourishment? Of laughter? Of anxiety, or other charges in your body? Of your home? Of your hammock? Of the fire? I mean honestly this could go on forever. The real question being: what if we fell in love with stewarding?
As an aside, I wish the word steward wasn’t so close to the name Stewart. Nothing against the Stewarts of the world, but saying steward over and over made me fall deeply out of comfort with the name Stewart.
Thank you for giving me the word I have been searching for: "stewarding" - witnessing, holding space. My soul yearns to be on a piece of land I can steward as a grow into my elder years. A reciprocal give and take, with teachings galore.
It’s one of those stubble but marrow-deep, profound perspective shifts that can change everything. Thank you for this beautifully rendered reminder 💚