Keeping God at the Center of Earth Day

Posted On April 22, 2009

<br /><a href="http://boogersandburps.blogspot.com/2009/04/keeping-god-at-center-of-earth-day.html" class="broken_link"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/i514.photobucket.com/albums/t349/pjmomof3boys/EarthDay2009button.jpg?w=678" border="0" alt="Earth Day 2009 button" data-recalc-dims="1"/><br /></a>

Well, Internet friends, if you haven’t already heard (and how could you NOT have heard?) today is Earth Day. How will I be celebrating it? By not polluting the environment by driving in to work today, and as I’m feeling quite lazy right now, I may also be conserving water by not showering. Although one look in the mirror tells me that may not be such a hot idea.

Although I’m leery about jumping on the “environmentalism” bandwagon because it seems to be morphing into its own religion, I do love our world and care about being the best steward I can of this beautiful place God has entrusted to us. I know the earth is changing, but I’m not convinced that it’s a result of our actions and not at least partly a natural cycle of climatic events. (Sorry, Al.) However, I don’t want to argue about it either. I just want to do my part to make our earthly home a better place because it’s the right thing to do.

I’m trying to teach the boys the importance of caring for our planet by:

1. Recycling. Seriously, it’s insane how much waste one family can produce in a week! I can’t imagine throwing all of that in the landfill. I’m so glad we have a wonderful curbside recycling program so I don’t have to feel quite so guilty about the 10 cereal boxes, 4 milk jugs, and 10 pounds of various paper that we seem to accumulate each week!
2. Turning off lights and electrical devices when we’re not using them. I swear, sometimes I drive up to our house at night and see that EVERY. SINGLE. LIGHT. IS. ON. I mean, it’s not like we live in a cave or something! Plus, when it’s bright in the house—you can see how dusty everything is. Who needs that? I prefer to dim the lights and pretend I’m sitting in a spotless house. A girl can dream, can’t she?
3. Recycle clothing by wearing hand-me-downs and shopping at Goodwill and garage sales. What’s the point in buying all brand-new clothes for boys who will just have them ripped or smeared with grass stains, ketchup, or mud in 3.4 seconds? (And what’s the point in buying brand-new clothes for a 37-year-old woman who apparently likes to gain 10 pounds every season?) We wear “everyday” clothes the majority of the time, and there’s no need for us to add to all the new “stuff” on the earth by purchasing new duds.

But the best way I can think of to honor and protect our precious earth is to give thanks to our Creator for giving us this wonderful place to live, and to serve God by taking care of it.

Will you be sending up a special prayer today for Earth Day? Want to renew your commitment to being a faithful servant to God? Grab my button above and spread the word!

Happy Earth Day (and may we have many more)!