Filed under: My Heart
I love God’s creation! I am never more content or full of the Spirit than when working in the garden, raking leaves, walking through the forest, watching wildlife, listening to birds, enjoying the ocean.
I’m also a Master Gardener, which means I’m pretty serious about becoming a better, more knowledgeable gardener, which led me recently to attend a seminar, “Gardening in the Face of Climate Change.”
Just so you know, I don’t buy the climate change arguments. I know there is all manner of “data” out there that “proves” that man is destroying the world. I keep hearing about scientific consensus. Problem is, there is also a lot of scientific data that contradicts or disproves every dreadful earth-ending conclusion and there is not scientific consensus, there is scientific censure of dissenting opinion (for more information, go to www.icecap.us).
Given that, I was curious but skeptical about this seminar. After some very passionate monologues and discourses by those in attendance, I finally had to make my position known – I was not one of them! Needless to say, I left early. I wasn’t learning much about gardening anyway.
I did benefit from the seminar, however: I came away with a much more crystalized understanding of my own position. I love trees, but I don’t hug them. I own a forest and I manage that forest for timber (that means I cut trees down), species diversity, wildlife habitat, and recreation. I get great pleasure watching the forest critters, but I also eat meat and occasionally hunt elk and deer.
I am not an environmentalist. I do not worship creation. There seems to be growing religious zeal among those who call themselves environmentalists. No, I am a steward and a conservationist.
In Genesis 1, God gave Adam and Eve responsibility to manage and care for His creation:
26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”… 28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
We are clearly to be God’s managers, working with and in His creation for the benefit of all. Stewardship, simply defined, is managing another’s wealth or resources on their behalf. The wealth and resources, and all of creation, belong to God!
10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.
11 “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
12 “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
(Psalm 50:10-12)
What an awesome and humbling responsibility we have! Fortunately, Scripture gives us guidelines for godly stewardship; Jesus taught parables on the subject (Luke 19:12:27, Matt 25:14-30). We are to be trustworthy, shrewd, wise, thoughtful in our handling of God’s resources (1 Cor 4:2, Titus 1:6-9). Simply put, stewardship is returning something in better condition that when you found it. When the Master returns, His creation should be in as good or better condition than when He left it in our hands to care for.
What does all this mean in light of “Going Green?” It means using less energy and using energy that’s less polluting. It means reusing, recycling and finding new uses for old things. It means looking for ways to keep our waterways clean, our forests and farms healthy, our wildlife and livestock diverse, and our skies pristine. The new and exciting ways to “Go Green” are applicable, appropriate, and most often, wise and we as Christians should not only take part, we should lead the way!
But, as with all things, God is looking past our actions to our hearts. What’s our motivation? Are we worshipping creation or the Creator? I take very seriously my job as God’s steward over this little piece of creation. I am caring for this acreage for just a short time. When I return it to His care to pass on to the next generation, it will be in better condition than when it was given to me. That is my act of worship.
Filed under: Uncategorized
It’s the gardener in my, I admit, but I get very excited when the first daffodils bloom in February. It’s the first real indicator that the gloom and sog of winter are nearly done. I have hundreds of daffodils in my pasture and they started blooming a week or two ago. I often have a bouquet of cut flowers in my kitchen window or on my dining table – a little early spring inside! Lovely.
I love sunflowers, too. My friends know that is truly my favorite flower. They follow the sun with their bright yellow faces. Sunflowers are optimists! Nearly always looking up. They come in more colors than yellow – deep red is another favorite. I have several sunflowers started in my greenhouse.
Daisies are the next on my list. They are the most cheerful flower, indeed.
This may sound like gardening fluff, and perhaps it is. I get a particular peace in the garden that somehow helps me refocus on what’s truly important in my life. When I get mired in stuff, an hour outside sets me straight. Even if it’s just sitting on a hill, watching the sun bounce off the lake, smelling the fresh new-spring fragrance of flowers.
I’m not alone in this. Christ himself said, “Consider how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his spendor clothed himself like one of these.” (Matt 6:28-29) The message, of course, is don’t worry. If God takes care of these things that are here today and dried up and dead tomorrow, how much more will he care for you?
So now that I have completed some of my toil for today, I’m going to put on my coat, step into the sunshine, and enjoy my laugh-odils.
Spring is coming!
