Living in the Spirit
June 5, 2017
Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. –Genesis 1:27-31
Growing up on a farm, I inherited a certain reverence for the land. It was the source of our livelihood. We all farmed: father, mother, and children. I was in charge of chickens and helped to milk cows. I traded working in the garden for housework every chance I got. My dad also was an oil well pumper running the machines that extracted oil from the earth. I laughed when I heard someone on the news recently complaining about the noise wind turbines make as a reason to discontinue building wind farms. Most nights as I child I went to sleep to the pumping of oil wells.
My dad grew up fast in the midst of the depression. His father died when my dad was ten in 1928. The wall street crash and the dust bowl followed shortly after that. Tough times led to learning better land conservation measures. Rows of trees planted during those years still appear along the way while driving across the prairie. Recycling was a way of life as every tobacco can was used for such things as closing off mouse holes and feed sacks were the primary fabric for dresses. When the dresses wore out, salvageable sections were used to make quilt blocks. My mom used to drive me crazy washing the paper plates and plastic utensils I purchased for my Christmas dinner specifically to keep from having to wash dishes. If I said anything, she would just answer, “these can be used again” and kept washing.
When did our culture decide the ability to waste things was a sign of progress? Did we have to suffer the consequences of losing the best top soil in the Dust Bowl, before we learned how to take care of our farmland? What are we missing now that will come back to bite us hard in the future? What is our responsibility in the world we have today regarding our assigned role of having dominion over the earth?
Prayer: Lord, help us conserve your world for future generations. Forgive us when we bask in waste at the expense of nature. Amen.
