Worship the Creator
We spend our summers in an incredibly “green” area of the country and by that I mean environmentally aware. This sounds great, and it can be, but what I’ve come to notice is that the environment has become a religion to many.
I love nature. We moved across the country, in part, to live along a beautiful lake on a sizable lot in order to be surrounded by the beauty of nature and its wondrous creatures. My family strongly supports efforts to clean up the environment. We recycle, pick up litter, support our national parks, support clean water projects and have made substantial changes in consumption behavior in order to reduce stress on the environment. We agree with “the greens” that we each have a responsibility to do our part in taking care of this amazing planet created by God. What is beginning to bother me about this movement is the anger, stridency, outright hostility from usually secular folks who are attempting to make this issue into some type of bizarre religion-substitute. There is much flagrant hypocrisy as well and that admittedly heightens my annoyance and skepticism.
We had a beautiful cotton wood tree on our new property, well over 100 years old. We loved that tree. Our neighbor told us stories of the owl family that would live in it every summer and how the other trees would talk to it when the wind blew.
We had all of the plans redrawn to accomodate the tree and started construction on our new house. We looked forward to having it there right in the middle of our patio for another 100 years.
It turned out there was a hole in the tree and our builder put a stick in it to measure the size of the hole. Sadly, the hole proved to be huge and a tree expert we summoned said the tree would fall on our new house within a few years, if not months, and needed to be removed since it was dying and could not be saved.
That Cottonwood tree has served as a metaphor of sorts, in that it reminds me of all of these people that worship the creation, not the Creator. They believe with the environment they are on to a cause that can be fulfilling yet their rage and fanaticism likely reveals a vast emptiness than can only be filled by God. We all search for meaning in our lives, don’t we? The search for true meaning in life is incredibly strong in all of humanity even those of a secular or agnostic bent. Yet when one refuses to accept God, to truly believe in Him, no substitute can fill the void of one’s vast emptiness, not even something as vital to the future of human life as the environment. The creation will not, can not fulfill us. The Creator will.
Romans 1:22-25 (NIV)
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen.
- Not Keeping the Secret
- It’s a “write-off” or is it? People are not deductible. And, it’s never too late.
Yes, I agree. And it probably has the power of a god because it has God’s fingerprints all over it.
For the Christian, a healthy stewardship grows, I think, from several things… an understanding that Jesus holds all Creation together (think Colossians) and that we wouldn’t want to tear apart what He holds together (thus, one could think of Creation destruction as a spiritual battle, in that Satan surely wants to prove Jesus powerless to hold Creation together); an understanding that Creation continues to be a Love Gift from God and that we wouldn’t want to spurn His generosity and loving care; an interest in compassion for humanity, which is supported and sustained through God’s physical gifts in Creation; and an expression of the “glory of God” (as in “the heavens declare…”) which we would not be so bold to besmirch.
Anyway, just a few thoughts.
Amen
Agreat big amen to this my friend.
Terri, I am so sorry that the tree needed to cut down, but it seemed to be dead anyway.
As I was reading the post about the dead tree, I was reminded that we too, as Christians are sometimes get hollow inside, than our Lord need to just gets rid of our dead stuff 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing and I hope that you will be able to plant another tree some day that will last for the next 100 years.
Be blessed today and always.
Terri,
You ROCK! I love this…They believe with the environment they are on to a cause that can be fulfilling yet their rage and fanaticism likely reveals a vast emptiness than can only be filled by God.
Amen!! Powerful post and well written. You are a rich blessing in a world lost!
Powerful post! I wish so much that people could open their eyes to WHO made the trees…grass…the things they are so intent on saving….
Sad about your tree…
I faced similar feelings (actually I got mad at Jeff) when my husband cut down a tree (Ligustrum) which he “said” was diseased (can’t we give it some “tree medicine?) at our house…near the clothesline….I loved hanging sheets on the line when the tree was blooming because of the sweet scent the tree had. So now…no tree….and no clothesline…..(we moved)
🙂
Be blessed!
Angie
Hello there Terri!
I hope you are having a great evening.
I’m sorry for the loss of your tree. That is really sad.
Your post is wonderful though. Very soul searching.
-Kimberley
Your cottonwood tree served as yet another reminder that it is the life on the inside that determines the outcome of a person, not the outward appearance.
So sorry to know that the cottonwood tree will die. I know every creature on earth has its/his lifetime. It remainds me that I should cherished my today and with hope for tomorrow. I know that our future are in the Lord’s hand. Wish you can cultivate a new cottonwood tree.