July 2, Quote 2

“Our salvation is in loving and cherishing his creation,

in so living that others may have life.”  Gerald Hughes

      I had a friend many years ago who talked about "sustainability" all the time.  Frankly, I wrote him off as a bit of a left-leaning worry-wart.  Then, slowly but surely, I began to understand what the fuss (and his interest) was all about.  To love God is to do more than simply love our neighbor as ourselves.  To love God is to appreciate and care for God’s gift of creation.  After all, we are His designated gardeners and caretakers.  He trusts us to use what we need and conserve/preserve the rest.
       Unfortunately, we Americans are short term thinkers.  We always have been.  How do we do the best we can for ourselves and our families here and now?  How do we maximize profits for the next quarter?  How do we create or maintain jobs for our neighbors today?  We rarely take the time to look more deeply at what will bless our families a generation or two down the line.  We almost never weigh share-holder value against employee or community value.  We see natural resources as something to be harvested and exploited for our employment needs right now without asking what those resources might do if left in their pristine, non polluted state for future tourism, etc.  
   It is the human condition: We want what we want and we want it now.  But where is the voice of restraint when it comes to tending God's creation?  Whose job is it to ask the hard questions about sharing fairly what God has given His children?  Is that not part and parcel of our call as Christians?

   It’s too bad that we have absorbed so little of the biblical world view in which blessings and curses were understood to be passed down from generation to generation to generation.  God has given us more than we need and more than we deserve.  It may well be that our salvation lies in learning to love and cherish it.  
   There is a public service radio spot which signs off with the phrase, "Remember, earth is an island.”  Sobering, but true.  How about we start off with the reminder, "Earth is God's garden and He wants us to tend and cherish it always."