THE INTERIOR LIFE OF A STEWARD
Stewardship Formation * creation
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
— Proverbs 4:23
Living as a steward is not only about what you do. It is about who you are.
Because the way you act in the world always flows from something deeper:
- how you think
- how you choose
- how you govern yourself
You can try to act responsibly. But if your interior life is disordered, your actions will eventually reflect it. At some point, the question becomes unavoidable:
What kind of person am I … and what kind of world flows from that?
Jesus names this reality with clarity: “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45
This is what we now need to understand more deeply.
Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
— Matthew 7:17–18
Learning from St Hildegard of Bingen
St Hildegard was a 12th-century German Benedictine abbess whose understanding of creation was deeply rooted in God.
She did not speak about “the environment” in modern terms, but about life itself.
She used the word viriditas — meaning greenness, vitality, the life-force that comes from God and flows through creation.
“The earth is at the same time mother; she is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human. She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.” (Physica / Liber Simplicis Medicinae)
For her, creation was not inert.
It was alive, sustained by God.
Throughout her writings, Hildegard shows that all creation praises God.
She wrote:
This is not only Hildegard’s insight. Scripture itself shows the same reality. Saint Paul writes that “Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God,” and that creation “will be set free from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:19–22). In other words, creation suffers when the human person is disordered, and creation flourishes when the human person lives according to God.
What Hildegard saw clearly is this:
When human beings live out of order, creation suffers.
When human beings live rightly, creation flourishes.
She links the state of the human person and the state of creation. This means that the moral state of the human person can either bring harmony or disharmony to creation.
Can you think of moments in ordinary life where Hildegard’s insight becomes visible?
Consider the way the interior life of a person shapes everything they touch.
When someone in a position of responsibility has disordered passions — anger, greed, lust, pride — what kind of environment do they create around them? Can they bring real and lasting peace, clarity, and trust?
Hildegard's Point
When a leader has no self-mastery, does their leadership bring clarity and peace, or confusion and instability?
Info
When a person lacks integrity, what happens to the people under their care? Can they truly lead others well?
When a person entrusted with authority lives without virtue, what happens to the work, the people, and the structures they are meant to guide? Can those under their care truly flourish?
But when a person who is rightly ordered — disciplined, truthful, self-controlled, rooted in God — is entrusted with responsibility, the opposite happens: clarity increases, peace grows, and what is entrusted begins to flourish.
This is Hildegard’s point:
the state of the human person becomes the state of the world they shape.
What follows from this
You cannot separate:
- your interior life
- and how you treat what is around you
Carelessness inside will show as carelessness outside.
Attention, discipline, and responsibility inside will show in how you:
Stewardship is not only about what you do. It reflects who you are. Nothing changes in the world unless something changes in how you live.
Moving into real responsibility
Because stewardship is not proven by intention… but by habit. It is about living consciously:
- how you buy
- how you use
- how you care
- how you maintain
Small, consistent actions.
Choose one area and begin there.
Not everything. Just one thing.
- If you waste food → change that first
- If you overconsume → reduce that intentionally.
Do it consistently. Not occasionally.
A steward does not wait for large opportunities to act.
She takes responsibility for what is already in her hands…
…and treats it as something that belongs to God.
Closing
Thank you!
© 2026 Muriel Akahi — All rights reserved. Content created for MA.com Formation Programme. Unauthorised reproduction or distribution is prohibited.
THE INTERIOR LIFE OF A STEWARD
Muriel Akahi
Created on April 20, 2026
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Transcript
THE INTERIOR LIFE OF A STEWARD
Stewardship Formation * creation
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
— Proverbs 4:23
Living as a steward is not only about what you do. It is about who you are. Because the way you act in the world always flows from something deeper:
You can try to act responsibly. But if your interior life is disordered, your actions will eventually reflect it. At some point, the question becomes unavoidable: What kind of person am I … and what kind of world flows from that?
Jesus names this reality with clarity: “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 This is what we now need to understand more deeply.
Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
— Matthew 7:17–18
Learning from St Hildegard of Bingen
St Hildegard was a 12th-century German Benedictine abbess whose understanding of creation was deeply rooted in God. She did not speak about “the environment” in modern terms, but about life itself. She used the word viriditas — meaning greenness, vitality, the life-force that comes from God and flows through creation.
“The earth is at the same time mother; she is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human. She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.” (Physica / Liber Simplicis Medicinae)
For her, creation was not inert. It was alive, sustained by God. Throughout her writings, Hildegard shows that all creation praises God. She wrote:
This is not only Hildegard’s insight. Scripture itself shows the same reality. Saint Paul writes that “Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God,” and that creation “will be set free from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:19–22). In other words, creation suffers when the human person is disordered, and creation flourishes when the human person lives according to God.
What Hildegard saw clearly is this: When human beings live out of order, creation suffers. When human beings live rightly, creation flourishes.
She links the state of the human person and the state of creation. This means that the moral state of the human person can either bring harmony or disharmony to creation.
Can you think of moments in ordinary life where Hildegard’s insight becomes visible? Consider the way the interior life of a person shapes everything they touch.
When someone in a position of responsibility has disordered passions — anger, greed, lust, pride — what kind of environment do they create around them? Can they bring real and lasting peace, clarity, and trust?
Hildegard's Point
When a leader has no self-mastery, does their leadership bring clarity and peace, or confusion and instability?
Info
When a person lacks integrity, what happens to the people under their care? Can they truly lead others well?
When a person entrusted with authority lives without virtue, what happens to the work, the people, and the structures they are meant to guide? Can those under their care truly flourish?
But when a person who is rightly ordered — disciplined, truthful, self-controlled, rooted in God — is entrusted with responsibility, the opposite happens: clarity increases, peace grows, and what is entrusted begins to flourish. This is Hildegard’s point: the state of the human person becomes the state of the world they shape.
What follows from this
You cannot separate:
- your interior life
- and how you treat what is around you
Carelessness inside will show as carelessness outside.Attention, discipline, and responsibility inside will show in how you:
- use
- maintain
- preserve
Stewardship is not only about what you do. It reflects who you are. Nothing changes in the world unless something changes in how you live.Moving into real responsibility
Because stewardship is not proven by intention… but by habit. It is about living consciously:
- how you buy
- how you use
- how you care
- how you maintain
Small, consistent actions.Choose one area and begin there. Not everything. Just one thing.
- If you overconsume → reduce that intentionally.
Do it consistently. Not occasionally.A steward does not wait for large opportunities to act. She takes responsibility for what is already in her hands… …and treats it as something that belongs to God.
Closing
Thank you!
© 2026 Muriel Akahi — All rights reserved. Content created for MA.com Formation Programme. Unauthorised reproduction or distribution is prohibited.