A Stewardship Testimony: What God Taught Me in Water; Wind; Ice; and Bees

Stewardship Below the Surface

Sisters and brothers;

I used to think stewardship meant taking care of something after it was already handed to you.

A house. A family. A calling. A job. A hive.

But over time; the Lord has taught me that stewardship starts earlier than that. Sometimes it starts when He lets you notice something other people walk right past.

When I was younger; I spent time in the Adirondacks testing remote pond water for signs of acid rain. That sounds much more impressive than it actually looked. A lot of it was hiking through cold weather; snowshoeing through deep snow; dragging gear along; and standing over a frozen pond with an auger while wondering why none of my hobbies seemed to involve warm weather and a chair.

We would drill through the ice; take water samples; test the pH; and look for quiet signs that something was wrong.

Most people could have walked by that pond and seen nothing but ice.

But underneath it; there was a story being told.

In October 1986 General Conference; Elder L. Tom Perry gave a talk called “The Joy of Honest Labor.” He told about being a boy during a home remodel. His father had him pull nails from old boards; straighten the nails; stack the lumber; and clean up the tools. At the time; it probably just looked like a kid doing the slow jobs nobody else wanted to do.

But his father was teaching him something deeper: do not waste what has been placed in your hands; and do not walk away just because the important work is not glamorous.

I understand that better now.

A pond can look fine from the trail. A person can look fine from the pew. A family can look fine from the outside. But if you slow down; pay attention; and take a real sample; you sometimes find that something has been changing beneath the surface for a long time.

That is stewardship too.

It is noticing.

I have also spent much of my life in the water. I was a rescue diver with the fire department; and I have been a lifelong diver. Diving teaches you quickly that the world below the surface is not pretend. It is beautiful; but it is serious.

You learn to respect pressure. You learn to watch your breathing. You learn to trust your training; your partner; and the line that leads you back.

You do not survive underwater by pretending conditions are better than they are.

You survive by being honest about where you are; what you have; and what you still need.

That is true spiritually too.

Sometimes we want a surface-level gospel. Something clean; quick; easy to say; and easy to listen to. A short quote; a nice smile; and an amen before anything gets uncomfortable.

But Jesus Christ is not afraid of deeper water.

He is not afraid of pressure. He is not afraid of the dark place where someone feels lost; tired; ashamed; or too far below the surface for anyone to notice.

He is the Savior who descended below all things; so there is nowhere we can sink that He does not already know how to reach.

Doctrine and Covenants 104:13 says; “For it is expedient that I; the Lord; should make every man accountable; as a steward over earthly blessings.”

That word accountable can sound heavy.

But I do not hear only punishment in it. I hear trust.

God made this earth; then trusted His children to care about it. He gave us bodies; families; animals; soil; water; work; callings; and one another. Then He asked us not to waste what He placed in our hands.

Elder Perry talked about his pile of straightened nails. Later; he realized his father was not using those nails to rebuild the house. He was using the work to build his son.

That feels true of the Lord too.

Sometimes the pond is not only about the water.

Sometimes the hive is not only about the bees.

Sometimes the hard work placed in front of us is also God building something inside of us.

Beekeeping taught me stewardship in a completely different language. A hive looks small from the outside. Just a box; a hum; and a lot of tiny workers with absolutely no interest in your personal plans for the afternoon.

But inside; there is order. There is work. There is sacrifice. There is life depending on life.

If a keeper is careless; the whole hive can suffer. If the keeper pays attention; feeds when needed; protects when needed; and gives the bees room to build; that hive can become strong enough to bless far more than itself.

That is stewardship.

It is not control. It is care.

It is not ownership. It is responsibility.

It is not looking holy while something dies quietly under the ice. It is paying attention soon enough to help.

Elder Perry said we should teach conservation and the elimination of waste. I do not think that principle stops with boards; nails; money; or food.

Do not waste the earth.

Do not waste the gifts God gave you.

Do not waste the people He placed close enough for you to notice.

The Savior showed the perfect pattern. He noticed the one sheep. He noticed the woman reaching for the hem of His garment. He noticed children. He noticed the hungry crowd. He noticed Peter sinking.

Christ has always been the Lord of what others miss.

So maybe environmental stewardship is not only recycling; or hiking; or caring about bees; or testing pond water.

Maybe it is discipleship with dirt under its fingernails.

Maybe it is learning to see the Lord’s hand in living things; then refusing to be careless with them.

Maybe it is understanding that the same God who made the mountains also notices the hive; the pond; the diver; the child; and the tired soul sitting in church while something beneath the surface is quietly changing.

I testify that God sees below the surface.

He knows what is in the water. He knows what is in the heart. He knows what pressure we are under; and He knows how to bring us back to air.

Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world; not just the parts of the world that look clean and easy.

And as we care for what He has placed in our hands; the earth; our families; our work; our callings; and each other; I believe He is not only helping us preserve what matters.

He is building us too.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ; amen.

General Conference Reference: Elder L. Tom Perry; “The Joy of Honest Labor”; October 1986 General Conference.

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