Our environmental responsibility

^“26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, ^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.
 ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”- Genesis 1:26-28

We read these verses in Bible study the other day and were asked “what is the purpose of marriage, according to these verses?” Of course many people said to have kids (be fruitful and multiply). One response that really struck me, though, was that we are called to rule over creation, to take care of it. Animals, plants, oceans, mountains…they are all a gift God has given us and He gave us the responsibility of watching over it and protecting it. It makes me so sad when environmentalism is referred to as a “liberal issue.” I understand why Republicans and Christian conservatives shy away from extreme environmentalism, but seriously, taking care of the earth is everyone’s responsibility. As Christians, children of God, we should be the loudest most active people trying to protect the pressure gift God has given us. It really doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in global warming or whether you think our fuel supply is going to run out in 100 years of 100,000 years.  The politics don’t matter either. What matters is that as individuals and as the body of Christ, we do what we can to conserve and protect the earth. God commands it, we must obey. Here are some great websites that illustrate everyday ways to green your routine

• National Geographics The Green Guide
• NBC’s Green Your Routine blog
• Livinggreen.org This website’s target audience is Minnessota residents, but the green living tips work for anyone living anywhere.
• Green Living Tips
• My friend Nickie has some great blog posts about homemade cleaning supplies

Part of the reason why I am so passionate about this is because it’s something I really need to work on. I have not done even close to enough to green my routine. However, yesterday I did visit a local farmer’s market (although I forgot my reusable bags!) and I bought an all natural all purpose cleaner at Target the other day. I’ll keep you posted on greening my Christian walk!

Faith it till you feel it

Some of the best advice I received in college was from my speech and debate coach. “Fake it till you make it.” If we didn’t know anything about a debate or if we forgot parts of our speech, she told us to put a confident smile on our face and just keep talking until we either remembered what we were supposed to say or our time ran out. She wasn’t promoting us being fake or lying, but rather persevering in things we didn’t or couldn’t do until we did or could do it. I use this advice alot in dealing with people at work. I work with alot of high school/young college students whose drama and immaturity drive me nuts. But I stick a smile on my face anyways and get along with them as best I can, and in the process usually discover that they are pretty cool people after all. I fake liking them until I actually do.

Last Sunday the pastor gave me a new way of looking at my coach’s pearls of wisdom. He encouraged us to “faith it till you feel it.” He was talking specifically about worship and the fact that we are to worship out of obediance, not out of our feelings. We may not always feel thankful, or joyful or full of love but still we should give thanks, worship in joy and show love towards God and our fellow human beings. If we step out in faith and obedience, the feelings will follow.  Beware, though. The feelings don’t always follow as quickly as we would like. It often takes days, weeks, months even years of faithing until we get the feelings to back it up.

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