Stewardship

Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

It is no secret that as a species, we are environmental disasters. From oil spills to trash heaps to climate change to deforestation to air pollution… We sure miss the mark when it comes to caring for creation. We miss so many opportunities to do and to be better.

I think about our earlier generations, who lived more simply, preserving the earth. When my dad and his wife Cathie married, they chose to do so in an outdoor ceremony on a piece of family land in the mountains of Monroe County. That particular spot is what my family refers to as “the knob,” a small clearing on a hilltop in the woods of land that has been in my family for generations. My uncle is its current steward, and as such, he spoke at the beginning of the wedding ceremony, inviting us to consider that while this land has been in our family for quite a long time, it existed for thousands of years before that, barely touched by the Cherokee people who inhabited it. Just down the mountain from the knob is my uncle’s house, which my grandfather built in 1981. My uncle renovated it about twenty years ago, but from the outside, it looks pretty much the same as it has all my life. It’s a simple, small house with a couple of sheds and a big vegetable garden. Up the road from his house is where my great grandparents lived about a hundred years ago. There isn’t much else there. A family cemetery, a couple of small homes, a pond or two, a church… and the most incredible, untouched forest you’ve ever seen with a creek running right through the middle of it. It has rhododendrons and laurels for days! I remember as a boy sitting on the bank, petting the soft moss as I looked down to the creek. It all looks pretty much the same today as it did decades ago when I was a child.

However, up the mountain in the other direction from my great grandparents’ home is a large piece of land that was sold to developers. At the top of that mountain, they clear cut trees in order put in rental cabins about ten years ago or so. The result of this is that the view is amazing, I hear, if you can put up with constant gale-force winds that will nearly knock you over. The trees they removed previously had provided a barrier from the winds.

I share all of this not only because this nostalgic piece of heaven is so very important to me, but also because it demonstrates the problematic nature of humankind. We are so inclined to seeing opportunities without considering the full implications of the impact acting on these opportunities will have. We so often heed God’s call to work the land, but not as much to care for it. We can learn from our indigenous ancestors how to respect the land that has been put into our care, though. While I won’t say that we necessarily have to go as far as the Cherokee people did, making no noticeable impact at all, we also should not go as far as the developers, seeking to create a financial opportunity at the detriment of the land. Hopefully, we are able to find ways to be like my uncle, stewarding the resources and land as best we can, making little impact out of respect for the gift we have been given.

I invite you to pray with me.

God of Creation, you gifted us this amazing earth, but with the great gift, we have great responsibility for its upkeep. We fall short. Help us to find ways to respect and preserve this land that we borrow from you for a short time. With gratitude for the abundance of ways you bless our lives, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

 

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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