Thoughts on The Earth

Today is Earth Day, and I have a big confession to make.

I am sick of Earth Day.

Let me explain. I have been recycling for more than twenty years now. When I haul the garbage and the recycling to the curb, there is now more in the recycling tote than there is in the garbage tote.

I haul my cloth bags to the grocery store every week.

I use cloth napkins and dish towels in place of disposable napkins and paper towels.

I care about what I put into the soil and what I put into my family's stomach.

I try very hard to be a good steward of the earth.

But at some point within the last year, I began to become uneasy with the whole "green" movement. It became apparent that our American school children knew more about "reduce, reuse, and recycle" than they did "In God We Trust."

Somewhere along the way, the green movement became the new religion.

We went to the Indy zoo the other week, and we were HAMMERED with green slogans everywhere. One sign said that if we'd all wear sweaters and turn our thermostats down, we could save the walrus, and there is nothing on earth quite like a walrus. Another sign said that if we'd keep our tires inflated, we could prevent the polar ice caps from melting.

Really? I'm mean, seriously?

We now live in a culture that tells us what cars to drive, what light bulbs to use, what to clean our toilets with, what appliances to purchase. We are hyper-informed. Every day, we are told if we don't act now! now! now! the earth will implode and it will all be our fault. What about the earth? Don't you love the earth? Don't you want to pass it down to future generations?

I had an epiphany this year when I read this verse from Psalm 24:1: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it; the world, and all who live in it."

Newsflash! The earth is not mine. I cannot pass it down to anyone because it does not belong to me. The earth belongs to the Lord.

Where does the green movement fail? It fails because the basic premise is that we are in control. We must act. We are in charge of the future.

Guess what? We're not. We cannot make the sun rise and set. We cannot bring rain and drought. We cannot force the seasons to come and go. That job belongs to the one who is really in charge.

In Hannah's prayer of praise to the Lord, she said "For all the earth is the Lord's, and he has set the world in order." 1 Samuel 2:8

There is an order to the world, and God has set it in place. There is a balance. He has given this earth periods of cold and periods of warmth. He has given flood and drought, seasons of plenty and seasons of famine. He has given us this ebb and flow of life so that we will learn to put our trust in Him.

I'm not worried about the earth any longer. It is not mine to worry about. I may be a steward, but there is a King who reigns over all.

The earth is good, but do I want my children to "love the earth"? No. I want them to the love the creator, not the creation. If they don't know that this earth is not their home, then I'm not doing my job. Today, my school children will be bombarded by earth day messages. But in our house, we won't celebrate Earth Day. Instead, we will celebrate "In God We Trust".

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

{recipe: Tree Swing (Pure Innocence-MFT stamps), Cosmo Cricket Earth Love papers, baja breeze cardstock and ink, kraft and ivory Pure Luxury cardstock, versafine onyx ink, prisma markers, dew drops}