| As I sat sipping my Highlander Grogg with a splash of whole, raw, 100% grass fed milk given to me by a friend, I noticed the previously fractured and now repaired coffee cup handle and pondered it… The cup wasn’t fancy by any means, it was just a simple, regular old cup, probably worth only a couple few bucks, with a handle that had been fractured in 4 places. But someone had taken the time to track down some glue and piece it back together again to restore the cup. My first reaction was; “Wow, what a waste of valuable time!” But something in my spirit caught me and in that moment I recognized noteverything is about efficiency of time vs reward. We live in an extreme luxury society where we can buy new for less than what it costs to fix. The tendency to pitch it, hop on the interwebs and just order up another one in seconds is real, and valid. It’s the first place my mind goes… Is it worth fixing? Or can I buy it cheaper? This morning caused me to stop in my tracks and reevaluate my thought process and a truth materialized for me:Of greater value than efficiency, is stewardship. Stewardship says; It’s worth fixing. It’s worth the investment. It’s worth the time. It’s worth restoring. It’s worth more than trash. It’s an optimistic point of view that sees things as they once were, and could be again. It’s an act of gratitude. Stewardship is a core value of ours here at Northstar and they say, “So goes the leader, so goes the rest of the team.” That is absolutely true, and there are signs of stewardship all around us here. The way we see the land, our processing resources, people, animals, food, shipping materials, and so on. That broken handled coffee cup came out of my mom & dad’s (who are the founders and owners of Northstar) cupboard… At 33, my eyes are still opened to new things that mom & dad do and their ethos behind it; things they value that influence how they see things. Their values are admirable and permeate the people around them. Just as Stewardship challenged me this morning, I’d encourage you to think about how you can further exercise your stewardship muscle… it’s truly a way of living. |
