Seven Key Relationships #7
Your Relationship With Things (Stewardship):
How We Manage What We’ve Been Given
We’ve spent this entire series exploring the seven key relationships that shape a meaningful, balanced life — your Creator, yourself, your spouse, your children, your extended family, and the wider world you serve.
And now we come to the final one…
Your relationship with things.
This is the relationship most people never think about, yet it influences everything from your stress levels to your financial peace, to how confidently you move through the world.
We don’t often consider that we have a relationship with things — but we do.
And the way we manage our property, our money, our possessions, and our responsibilities is a reflection of both our values and our emotional maturity.
In the simplest terms, this relationship is about stewardship.
Not ownership.
Not control.
Not accumulation.
Stewardship — caring for what we’ve been given in a way that aligns with who we want to be.
🌼 People Before Property… But Property Still Matters
One of the greatest truths Dr. Paul teaches is that all six earlier relationships involve people — because people must always come first.
But property still matters.
You can be deeply connected spiritually, emotionally, and relationally — and still struggle with stress around finances, clutter, assets, responsibilities, or material overwhelm.
In fact, many high-wealth families seek help not because of money itself, but because the management of things creates tension within the family.
The wisdom is simple:
👉 People are more important than things.
👉 But things still require thoughtful stewardship.
👉 Because how we relate to things reflects how we relate to life.
Even at home, this shows up in small ways:
A child tossing a backpack across the floor…
Shoes scattered everywhere…
Equipment not cared for…
Tools misplaced…
These are not “just behaviors.”
They reflect a relationship with property — and why “respect property” is one of Dr. Paul’s three family rules.
Stewardship is part of our growth, our character, and our well-being.
🌱 Why This Relationship Matters for Your Happiness
Dr. Paul references something rooted in U.S. history — the Declaration of Independence — which includes the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right. Historically, that phrase was connected to the right to control property.
Why?
Because the way we manage the material world affects:
Our peace
Our freedom
Our daily choices
Our ability to give
Our ability to build
Our sense of stability
Stewardship is not about loving things.
It’s about treating them as tools that support the life we’re building — not the life we’re trying to escape.
When we keep this relationship healthy, the other six relationships get lighter, easier, and more joyful.
🌿 Three Powerful Tips for a Healthy Relationship With Things
Dr. Paul gives three transformative principles that help us steward our things wisely and with emotional freedom.
1️⃣ Stop Worshiping Money
Most of us don’t think we “worship” money…
But we often treat it like a magic solution:
“If I just had more money, everything would be easier.”
“If that bill wasn’t there, I’d feel better.”
“When things improve financially, then I’ll be happy.”
The truth?
Money is not the value.
Money is the receipt for value.
When we buy something, money leaves after we’ve received value.
When we earn money, money arrives after we’ve created value.
Money follows value.
Always.
When we stop worshiping money and start creating value, financial peace becomes easier — because our focus shifts from fear to purpose.
2️⃣ Be Humble and Generous
Humility keeps us open.
Generosity keeps us flowing.
Humility says:
“I can learn. I can grow. I can handle feedback. I can change.”
Generosity says:
“I believe there is enough. I can give freely and trust the flow.”
One of Dr. Paul’s coaches called it business karma — the idea that the more you give, the more your life opens to receiving.
Generosity softens the grip money tries to have on our hearts.
Humility softens the grip pride tries to have on our minds.
Together, they create abundance — both internally and externally.
3️⃣ Produce More Than You Consume
As humans, we must consume — food, energy, time, resources, rest.
There is nothing wrong with receiving.
But fulfillment grows when we produce more than we consume:
✨ More kindness
✨ More support
✨ More effort
✨ More creativity
✨ More contribution
✨ More solutions
✨ More joy
When we produce more value than we take, we feel aligned, grounded, and purposeful.
This is why service is so deeply connected to happiness — it’s part of our stewardship of life itself.
🌸 Stewardship in Real Life
As farm and ranch families, stewardship isn’t theoretical — it’s daily life.
We manage land, livestock, equipment, tools, finances, food, homes, and legacies.
We understand wear and tear.
We understand the cost of mismanagement.
We understand the privilege of caring for what we have.
This key relationship reminds us that:
Things are resources
Things are responsibilities
Things are temporary
Things require intentional care
Things exist to support people, not replace them
Our things don’t define us.
But how we steward them shapes our peace, our purpose, and our impact.
🌾 When All Seven Relationships Align, Life Begins to Flow
Each relationship in this series builds on the next.
And when we reach this final one — our relationship with things — everything comes full circle.
When we:
honour our Creator
care for ourselves
cherish our spouse
guide our children
respect our extended family
serve others with purpose
and steward our things wisely…
life begins to flow more peacefully.
More meaningfully.
More joyfully.
This is where resilience becomes a lifestyle — not just a lesson.
🌿 Reflection Questions for Your Journal
How do I currently relate to money — fearfully, practically, or purposefully?
Where could humility help me grow in my stewardship of property or finances?
What small acts of generosity could I practice this week?
In what ways am I producing value for others?
What would it look like to steward my time, energy, and resources more intentionally?
🌼 Closing Thought
Your relationship with things isn’t about accumulation —
it’s about alignment.
It’s about using what you have to support who you’re becoming.
It’s about releasing stress and stepping into purpose.
It’s about understanding that things are tools — not identity.
And when managed with wisdom and humility, they help create the life you truly want.
This final relationship completes the circle — reminding us that resilience isn’t just emotional…
it’s practical.
It’s grounded.
It’s intentional.
And it’s possible for anyone willing to steward what they’ve been given.
DOWNLOAD your 7 KEY RELATIONSHIPS Journal HERE
Watch Dr Paul Jenkins discussion of this key relationship on his you tube channel - Live on Purpose TV
🌿 Inspired by Dr. Paul Jenkins, PsychologistHow to Experience Joy in Your Seven Key Relationships
This series draws inspiration from the work of Dr. Paul Jenkins, Positive Psychologist and author of Pathological Positivity. His teachings on the seven foundational relationships—and his mission through Live On Purpose Central—invite us to see life differently, choose joy intentionally, and nurture the connections that shape our fulfillment.