We are the Caretakers of Our World
Shannon King, Charity Director
As a modern human in a technologically advanced world, many of us go about our days living our lives in a synthetic environment. An environment of constructed buildings, highways, cars and homes. Many of us live in urban settings or even in dense city settings. We forget that we are a part of our environment. I don’t mean the setting in which we live but the natural world.
We get irritated or afraid when some wild animal such as a skunk, coyote, or bear wanders into our sector. We freak out if a bird gets into the building or a spider or lizard ends up in our bathroom. I know we all like our personal space, and we want to be safe. Believe me, I’m all for safety. If a black widow wanders into my home its getting squashed.
Today, I want to remind everyone that we are all neighbors in this world. We need to remember that we are sharing our homes and our land with other inhabitants. We can find ways to cohabitate and we need to show our neighbors respect.
Why should we even care about this? There are lots of reasons but my viewpoint today is that we haven’t been placed here to look out for number one. Our creator left us in charge of this amazing planet. As far as we know, this is the only planet, the only place in existence where life in the forms that we know of can exist.
Creator made this very special place for life to thrive and left us in charge of it all. We aren’t here as dictators to defile or pollute the land and we don’t have the right to cruelty or enslavement of its inhabitants. A good ruler or caretaker does just that – they take care of its constituents.
Let’s look at some scripture and remember what it says about creation and our role here.
Genesis (NIV)
1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground .
2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Numbers (ESV)
35:33-34 ESV You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Job (ESV)
12:7-10 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
Our creator has placed us here to “rule” the land and its inhabitants and to “work it and keep it”. To me this means that we have been left in charge to take care of this lush planet where creation thrives. Creator’s spark of life is in all creatures, not just our own. We all reside in his hands. We need to see our role of caretaker as our God-given sacred duty.
All of creation has been made, on purpose, by our creator. All life contains the spark of life and the breath of life directly from our source. That means every living thing. Please allow a shift to occur in your consciousness, in the way that you view the living world around you. It is all important. We are all important. It’s all here with purpose. We are all one big Earth family from its different people to its many different flowers and insects.
Do you not have reverence for your creator? I hope that you do. Please take a moment to think about how respecting the other forms of life is showing respect for God. I challenge you to find just one way each day that you can be a more aware, more loving, more understanding, more empathetic caretaker of the natural world around you. Don’t throw your trash on the ground, pick up one piece of trash each day, instead of killing that small reptile or bug in your house help it get back outside. Teach your children to be more aware and kind to the inhabitants of your yard, don’t step on snails, reconsider your choice in pesticides, recycle, place a bowl of water outside in the summer, put some food out in the winter. Make ONE change. If every human made just one small change just think about what a HUGE impact that would have on the natural world around us!
I’m going to wrap this up with a Scout Master’s Minute that heard twice in the last week. With this I wish you all love and peace in your relationship with the natural world around you. Please find your starfish and make a difference.
The Starfish
Paraphrased From: The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing.
One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?” The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the ocean.”
“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?” “The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”
“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young man listened politely. Then bent down picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”
