The Singing Scoutmaster: Stewardship

Scouts, you've all heard the outdoor rule: 'Leave no trace.' But tonight I want to talk about a bigger idea: 'Leave it better than you found it.' Not just campsites - everything. Your school, your neighborhood, your equipment, your relationships, your world. That bigger idea is called stewardship.

Stewardship means taking care of things that have been entrusted to you, even though they don't technically belong to you. The trail through the woods isn't yours, but you pick up trash when you see it. The patrol gear isn't yours, but you make sure it's clean and stored properly. The park down the street isn't yours, but you help keep it nice because other people use it too.

Think about it this way: everything you use and enjoy was taken care of by someone before you. The campsite you love? Someone maintained that trail. The troop's tents and cooking gear? Scouts before you treated it well so it would last. The clean water you drink on a hike? People upstream protected that watershed. You're benefiting from their stewardship every day.

Stewardship means you're not just a user - you're a caretaker. And the things you take care of don't have to be big. Putting a book back on the shelf, turning off the lights when you leave a room, repairing something instead of throwing it away - those are all acts of stewardship. Small actions, done by lots of people, add up to something huge.

Here's the challenge: this week, look around and find one thing you can leave better than you found it. It could be a messy room, a neglected garden, or a piece of camping gear that needs some attention. Take care of it. Not because someone told you to, but because that's what stewards do - and Scouts are stewards of everything they touch.