By Ken Rolheiser

Today I was struck by the words of St. James 4:13-17. Daily we make plans to do business and make money with little thought about God’s part in all this. But James admonishes us, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

The attitude we should have, James tells us, is, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” We should listen to our saints who are closer to us in time, like Mother Teresa who said, “I

am a little pencil in the hands of a loving God who is writing a love-letter to the world.”

We are God’s writers and artists, his workers and homemakers. We are stewards of creation, God’s co-workers. We are responsible for our impact on the environment. Every little action counts.

A small thing like taking a cloth grocery bag to the store, when multiplied by millions, makes a gigantic positive impact on the environment. Conserving water, power, paper or some other resource is important.

But the greatest gift we have to share with the world is the message of God’s love Jesus came to tell us about. “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). I pondered that recently and pictured God deciding how he could best love us and redeem us. “I would give my life for them,” he thought.

And that is what he did through Jesus. The rest is HOPE. I read about a Methodist who asked his minister if people who didn’t believe in Jesus were destined for hell. The minister simply said, “God is love.”

How important is it that we pass on this message of God’s love? 1 Corinthians 4:1 tells us, “We are stewards of the mysteries of God”. That is rather exciting! We get to work with the “mysteries of God”. God trusts us to do the task Jesus came to earth to do.

Philippians 2:14-16 instructs us: “Do all, that has to be done without complaining or arguing and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life.”