Creation Care (also know as environmental protection)

Creation care is the idea that God expects his people to take care of the earth that he created for them to enjoy.  This topic is near to my heart possibly because until about three years ago it had no place in my life.  I grew up thinking that environmentalism was for those liberal, tree-hugging fanatics.  I realize now how judgmental and short-sighted that was.  The same God who cares for me also cares for the lilies of the field, and He expects me to care as well.

The case for creation care can be found in many places in the Bible:

Genesis 1.31 says, “God saw everything He had made and behold it was very good.”  All of creation was deemed ‘very good’ by its creator.  Man might be the height of God’s work, but the land, the water, and the animals are all valuable to him.

Genesis 2.15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”  This was the first job given to mankind – to take care of the garden.  God could have made the earth self-sustaining, but as in many things, He chose to include humanity in the process.  It is our responsibility to be caretakers of the environment where we live. 

There are so many more examples of how important creation is in scripture, but I will only highlight one more.  This one is a warning.  Revelations 11.18 “The nations raged, but your wrath came, the time for the dead to be judged…and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”  That is pretty intense.  God’s final judgments will include punishing those who have participated in the destruction of the earth.  I would venture to say that includes all of us to some extent.

Although these scriptures resonate with my spirit now, my road to creation care did not start with the Bible.  It started with stewardship and decluttering.  A few years ago, I was cleaning out and organizing my daughters’ craft room.  I had a bag for supplies they did not need that we could give away.  I also had a bag for trash.  The trash bag filled up quickly over and over again.  It had never bothered me to throw out a little paper here and there, but suddenly those bags full of paper bothered me.  I knew that paper could be recycled into new material if I only took the time to sort it and take it to the local drop off.  I began to compare throwing that usable resource away to throwing away money.  If I put it in the trash, then companies would cut more trees, process more paper and sell it.  I was feeding a machine that was wasting natural resources as well.  I was not stewarding all that God had put in my hands.  That day I labeled a box for paper recycling and put it in our kitchen.  It took many hours of research and phone calls to find out what our small town could recycle and where the drop offs were, but soon I had four labeled trash cans in my kitchen for glass, tin, plastic, and paper.  I had joined the green team.

Recycling was a very small beginning, but it got me started.  During my research, I began to read about the problems with trash in general.  I knew that certain things, especially plastic, did not degrade well.  What I didn’t know is that nothing degrades well in a landfill.  It does not break down and return to the earth as I had imagined.  It actually gets entombed with no oxygen to help the disintegration process.  One archeological type dig done in a landfill found a 50-year-old newspaper that could still be read. The material in a landfill also mixes together and forms a toxic sludge called leachate.  Modern landfills have a plastic liner to keep this liquid out of the water supply, but they do crack and leak sometimes.  Landfills also cause Methane gas.  So, everything we do to reduce our contribution to landfill trash protects the earth.  This realization led me to analyze my trash creation.  Before recycling, we were putting out two large bags of trash every week.  Recycling cut that back, but I wanted to do more.  The next step was eliminating disposable items.  Bye-bye paper plates and napkins.  Hello, pretty cloth napkins, reusable water bottles, and cloth face wipes.  I also looked for ways to buy products with less packaging.  Thrift stores and bulk grocery items are great for this. 

The next realization my research brought me to was the misuse of plastic.  How can it be ok to take a limited natural resource like oil, create a flimsy item like a plastic bag or cup that is used for a very short time and then thrown away to possibly never degrade or even worse end up in the ocean where plastic molecules now outnumber plankton?  Talk about waste and destruction!  So, the next step was to reduce plastic usage.  I gradually replaced my plastic containers with glass ones.  I didn’t want those toxins leaching into my food anymore anyway.  I bought a glass water bottle, and of course, started using reusable bags when shopping.  I’ve explored alternatives to Ziploc bags with limited success.  Yes, you can freeze food in glass containers, but those bags fit so much nicer and in the long-term glass storage promotes freezer burns sooner.  Sometimes I wash and reuse my plastic bags and sometimes I’m lazy and throw them away.  I console my guilt with the knowledge that I’m doing so much better than I was before.

My environmental journey also brought me back to food.  In my life, it seems that all roads lead back to food.  I began to explore the idea that processed food was bad for the environment and bad for my body.  The extra packaging and the chemicals had to go.  I began to learn to cook with real ingredients.  I increased the amount of fresh vegetables in my diet.  I started cooking and freezing my own meals so I did not have to rely on fish sticks and Lean Cuisine.  Then I started learning about meat.  Between Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the movie Food Inc, I knew I no longer wanted to eat industrially produced meat.  I didn’t want to contribute to animals living tortured lives even before they were killed for my plate.  I didn’t trust all the chemicals, antibiotics, bacteria, and disease running rampant in this system.  However, I was not ready to go vegetarian.  This was a problem.  I looked for alternatives.  For me, the answer was respectfully raised, grass-fed, free-range, organically fed meat.  I found resources online and my local health food store had options.  Then I was blessed to find three local ranchers who were selling meat.  I could visit the farm, ask questions about their philosophy and eat their products guilt-free.  I may go vegetarian/vegan someday, but for now, this fits my values.

There are many other steps I’ve taken and so many others I still need to explore.  I imagine I still do many things that would qualify as destroying the earth, but I also know I am treading much lighter on the earth than I used to.  I am also more aware of my actions and looking for ways to care for this beautiful gift God has given us all.

Fasting isn't always fun

So, I am a joiner.  I love new projects, social experiments, and challenges.  I like starting things.  I like learning all about new subjects.  Then - what typically happens is I hit a few roadblocks, find out the project isn't as much fun as I anticipated, and quit to go looking for the next new thing to hit my radar.

A few months ago I quit drinking Diet Coke.  I replaced it with flavored/carbonated water and sweet tea.  I was pondering the idea that it was time to go all the way and get rid of the flavored water too when the 7 Experiment came on my radar.  It seemed like perfect timing.  It seemed exciting!  After all, it was a new project and the perfect way to kick off the new year.  So, about a week ago I quit the flavored water and this week in addition, I cut the sugar out of my tea.  It seemed like a small step, maybe not even glorious enough for the 7 Experiment but I jumped in whole-heartedly.

Then life hit.  See, my typical pattern with fasting is that taking out a comfort item, such as the sugar in my tea, brings me closer to my emotions.  It allows the ugly parts of my personality to surface.  In other words, I get angry and irritated.

Yesterday was a tough day.  Every little thing was ruffling my feathers.  I ended up in an intense argument with my husband.  This is unusual because we both hate conflict.  Because I had no buffer, things I usually overlook really upset me.  I found myself seething over infractions from years ago even.  It seems that some past injuries had not been forgiven but just buried.  So, I guess that is what God wanted to show me.  I spent some time in prayer and was reminded of the time when Jesus told his disciples to forgive 70X7 times.  I decided that all those things that my husband does that really anger me are going on the 70X7 list. If it's on the list, then I don't hold it against him.  It's been forgiven and released.  (and just so you know the list is not on paper, just a fuzzy thing in my head so basically I'll never know if I reach 490 items.)  It's just my way of reminding myself that my husband does not have to be perfect and I have permission to let him off the hook.

So I wanted to just quit this whole experiment yesterday - to cover up my emotions with sugary tea and forget the whole thing.  Instead, I stuck it out and God showed me something important about myself.  It wasn't fun but I grew.  Growth is my word for this year.  If I survive the process, big things might happen.

7 Experiment - Food Month

I am writing this one week before the planned start of 7.  As I contemplate what type of food fast God wants for me I have already begun to hear his voice.  He's already tapping on an area that needs repentance - my pride.

See - in the past few years I have made many changes in what and how I eat.  I want to list all these accomplishments and get some pats on the back.  I want people to appreciate how far I have come before I lay out the next steps.  However, that is not the blog God wants me to write.  I hear his gentle voice telling me to stop.  My desire for acceptance and my reliance on the approval of others needs to be crucified.

I just read the story of the Rich young ruler and saw something I had not noticed before.  After the man tells Jesus that he has kept all the commandments, he says "what am I still lacking?"  This man was doing so many things right, but he humbly recognized his own need, his own emptiness.  He wanted more of God in his life.

Lord, may I also humbly ask you to search me and tell me where I am lacking.  My I seek more of you, acknowledging how far you have brought me, but never forgetting that we have ever farther to go.

(Warning - that prayer is dangerous. Not one hour after praying it I found myself snapping at my husband over an old grudge I thought I had released years ago. I haven’t even started the fast and God is already shaking out my weaknesses. That is how it works for me. I fast from my comforts and the ugly hidden parts of my spirit start to show. Then I either cover them back up or let God heal them. Let’s hope I choose the second option more often.)

So - with no fanfare or history attached, here is how I will be fasting during food month:
Give up flavored water - only water, juice, unsweetened tea, and milk for beverages.
No graham crackers (my go to snack food)
3-5 meatless lunches a week
Spend as little as possible by using up what we already have (working on food waste)
I am also considering giving up pork and fast food. I don’t eat much fast food but sometimes I’m with the family and we stop there. I’ll have to ponder the exact limits on this. Lastly our family has pizza once a week. Maybe I can add salad to that meal.

I am also super excited to announce that my girls (age 9 and 12) want to travel 7 with me.  This month they will be abstaining from all chips.

The 7 Experiment Revisited

Some friends of mine are planning to go through Jenn Hatmaker’s 7 Experiment starting in January and I’ve decided to join them. I went through this amazing social/spiritual experiment a few years ago (skim my blog titles to see what I learned) but it is definitely time for a tune up.

So- what is 7?
It is seven months of various types of fasting from areas of excess in our lives.  Month one starts with food but it moves on to many other important arenas like possessions, media, spending, and stress.  The premise is to let go of some of our comforts and to cut back on our excesses so that God has more room to speak into our lives.  Fasting is an ancient tool that God gave us to increase our spiritual sensitivity and sometimes expedite His intervention.  Jenn Hatmaker's prayer was "Jesus, may there be more of You and Your kingdom and less of me and my junk."

For me personally as a person with an addictive personality,  7 is a chance to break away from those things in my life that are starting to control me.  When I find myself focusing on my cell phone too much and checking it first thing in the morning just in case someone messaged me, then I know it's time to back off and break that hold it is developing over me.  The same can be said for tv, food, money, and so many other things.  It's time to put these things back into perspective and let God have first place.

As I read the introduction to this study, Jenn explains why she felt the need to create it.  She talks about entitlement and privilege and how most of us are so well off and we don't even realize it.  I have to admit that the idea of privilege irks me.  I don't like people assuming that because I'm white and have a full time job that my life is easy and/or that everything was handed to me.  I want to justify that I worked hard for my position and that I only got to go to college through a miracle of God by way of a last minute forgiven loan program.  I want to explain how I wore clothes from thrift stores growing up and my mom worked two jobs to pay the bills.  I wasn't born on easy street and I don't own a silver spoon.  However, as I rant about my not cushy life, I realize that I am doing exactly what Jenn talks about.  I am comparing myself to people who are above me in social economic status.  "See - I'm not like those rich people.  I'm just a normal smuck like you."  But I'm not looking down the ladder.  I'm not seeing the advantages I did/do have.  I was born into a family that valued work and education.  I did not have to dodge bullets or fists to get to school.  God gave me an intelligent mind and the desire to use it.  I was born into a country that does have scholarship opportunities and college programs available to all social statuses.  I am blessed.

I think part of 7 for me is to acknowledge my blessings and ask God how He wants me to use them.  Too often I can fall into the 'glass half full' mentality.  I got rear-ended in a parking lot recently and my inclination was to be angry at the person who drove off and at the fact that my whole plans for the evening where put on hold while I waited for the police.  Only later did I realize how blessed I was to have minor damage to my vehicle and no one hurt.  I need to change my perspective and embrace the blessings that God brings into my life.

The other half is figuring out what to do with my blessings.  That is part of fasting also.  In Isaiah 58 God tells his people that the type of fast he wants is to "loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bonds of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and to let the oppressed go free... to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh"  In other words my blessings are meant to be shared with others.  I'm not talking about wealth redistribution or an obligation to take care of others and I know we need to use our God-given discernment when it comes to social justice issues.  However, I don't think God gave me these blessings to hoard them for myself.  He has a mission for me to serve the world around me.  I only need to look away from my 'stuff' and see His plan.  That is what I hope the 7 experiment will allow me to do.

Lord, I want to hear your voice more clearly and follow your plan with gratitude and joy.

The 7 Experiment - Media Fast

I'm going to write this one as I go and publish it at the end of my fast. 

This month is media.  My plan is no Facebook for three weeks.  Also, no gaming or random internet surfing.  Basically, I'm trying to redeem the time I spend after diner just vegging in front of the computer. 

I started Thursday (making today day 4).  I turned off all my notifications that email me saying who posted things on Facebook.  At first that helped me not desire to go check out the 'news'.  However, today I find myself wondering what is going on in people's lives.  I feel a little removed.  It's interesting.  Also, what am I supposed to do with all my silly and interesting life events and comments swirling in my head if I can't post them?

Week one down.  Here is an interesting development.  Instead of using my after dinner time for work or family, I've been going to bed earlier.  I think my body is trying to tell me that I've overextended and I need some rest.

Week two almost done.  My email is boring without Facebook and it is full of junk mail.  I try to unsubscribe them but more come.

My life seems to be getting quieter and smaller without Facebook.  I don't know all the details of friends' lives who are spread around the country.  I don't have the urgency to check on them daily. I like that social media allows me to reconnect with people I care about, but I don't miss the pressure (self-imposed mostly) to not miss an update. 

I'm not sure it's quiet enough yet though.  I still don't seem to be spending more time with family or getting more chores done.  I think it's time to reduce my inputs even more.  I read that multi-tasking, especially when related to media, undermines our ability to focus.  Also, it can cut creativity and deep thought.  Lastly, inputs of new information can be received as more urgent to the brain than other necessary tasks. 

I think that relates to me.  Sometimes I get obsessed with gathering new information on whatever topic has caught my interest.  I'll listen to audio books, watch youtube videos, etc. while doing other tasks.  This is not a bad thing in itself, but I think I get overstimulated at times and too driven to find out all I can.  So, for now, I'm fasting from multi-tasking.  I want to focus on what I'm doing and listen for God's voice in all things. 

If only it was that easy.  Unfortunately, the first voice I hear is not God's.  It is the voice of my own anger, irritation, and selfishness.  I find myself getting upset about unimportant things.  It's as though my emotions are raw and vulnerable.  This is always the first 'benefit' of fasting - it shakes me up and shows me what character defects remain unsanctified within me.  I pray for God to continue healing me.  I want to be so full of His Spirit that there is no room for my sinful nature.

Today I endeavored to look outward and pay attention to others instead of focusing on my own wants and needs.  The ugly voices in my head dispersed and it was a much calmer day.

As the three weeks comes to a close,  I think it's time to make some decisions about permanent changes to make.  I would like to 'keep the baby, but get rid of the dirty bathwater'.  I want to keep in contact with friends and family without surfing mindlessly for hours.  I also have become aware of how plugged-in my children are.  They need some limits as well.  I'm considering making one evening a week a 'no screen night'.  Ideally that time would be filled with family time and bonding.  I do plan to sometimes listen to my e-books while doing mindless chores, but wouldn't it be even better to include my children and develop more talk time with them? 

In general, I think I need to intentionally consider how I can trade good for better and better for best in my life. 

The 7 Experiment - Month Two - Clothes

As I've explored the ideas of simplicity and minimalism, I ran into a lot of people talking about downsizing their wardrobe.  In my first major purge I did donate several bags of clothes, but I had no desire to create a capsule wardrobe or try the 333 challenge (33 clothing items for 3 months).  Then I read Jen Hatmaker...

As part of her fasting from excess, she wore 7 clothing items for a month and loved it! 

I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach this month of 7, but I started by counting my clothes - tops, bottoms, dresses, nightgowns etc.  I did not include undergarments.  The total was 230.  That is not a mountain, but it is still a lot for a person who claims to not care about clothes.  So, I decided to jump in and see how little I could live on for a month. 

I started with 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of shorts, 1 t-shirt, 2 dress pants (black and brown), 3 semi-dressy tops, 1 pair of sweats and 1 dress.  I discovered it was sort of fun.  I kept the experiment secret and wondered if anyone would notice.  For two weeks I had this tiny pile of laundry and few choices to make in the morning.  In fact, it was two easy.  At two weeks I decided to narrow the playing field.  I eliminated the shorts (cool weather coming anyway) and the sweats and one top.  Now I had to repeat tops twice in a work week.  Still no one seemed to notice.  I guess the world really doesn't revolve around me. =p

By the fourth week I was a little bored with those tops and really ready to wear a different dress to church, but it certainly was not difficult or painful like fasting from food.  So, I was right to say I'm not all that attached to my clothes. 

Still, this was a fast, and I wanted to hear God's voice.  I asked him what he wanted to show me this month.  I had spent some time thinking about image and how we feel about ourselves and others based on clothes.  I also pondered how much we spend as a nation on clothes and how even thrift stores will reject clothes at times because they just have too much.  So as a society we have extreme waste in this area.  I try to get most of my clothes used for this reason. 

The one thing I had not considered was how clothing related to social justice.  I watched Jen's video for this month and did some internet surfing to find out about worker abuse, child labor, and unsafe working conditions.  It's a big topic and not at all clear-cut.  Here at last was the place where this fast pinched.  I found a listing of various companies and how well they were doing with safety, living wage, and child labor.  Unfortunately, most of the labels in my closet were not on the list so I have no way to judge them. I did decide to support the companies with good rating when possible.  Of course when you buy from a company that uses fair trade cotton and pays their workers above minimum wage, you might get sticker shock.  Then I discovered that certain countries are more known for worker abuses.  I started checking my labels again and I had lots of clothes made in the top two.  Since I wanted to purge anyway, I donated many of these.  I also chose to keep some - things I wear often or really liked.  It wasn't as easy as I thought. 

The next day I took my daughter shopping for a recital dress.  We found one she liked (a major feat) and it fit.  Only after it was in the cart did I check the tag -- ugh it was from the country I told myself I was no longer supporting... but it fit, she liked it, and it was cheap... and I bought it. =s

Now some will say, justifiably, that I have no way of knowing if that dress was made by a modern-day slave or a home-business trying to get out of poverty.  That is true.  It's also true that in that moment, the for-sure needs of my own child outranked the maybe abuses of somebody else's child.  I am weak when it comes to my dearest treasures - my children.

So, I leave clothes month with a smaller wardrobe (@150 now) and a lot of questions about justice.  As someone reminded me, it's not just clothes.  Injustices abound in so many industries.  I don't know how to even begin to make a dent in this issue.  As with so many things the goal may be progress not perfection.

The 7 Experiment month one - food

Well, my newest obsession revolves around a book (big surprise).  It's called The 7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker.  My friend introduced it to me with the sentence - "You have to read this, it's so you."  All I had to do is read the back and I was hooked.  This author looked at seven areas of excess in her life and pared them down to the essentials.  Most of the areas were the same ones I've been making changes to in my own life - food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress.

In my life (somewhat documented in my story, Journey of 100 Bags) I made gradual, sustainable changes in various areas.  Jen Hatmaker took it to the extreme.  She considered each section a fast and her goal was for God's kingdom to break through in her life. 

For the first month she ate only seven foods - chicken, eggs, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, spinach, avocados, and apples.  She examined the Western diet and discovered how it is making us sick and fat.  She explored the ideas of whole food, organic, local food, and industrial agriculture.  She looked at how much food we waste as well as what God has to say in the Bible about food and our bodies.  She looked at the world around her and how so many are starving while a few are so indulged. 

I was challenged and excited.  I tried a water fast for one meal - yep just 1 meal.  I was miserable.  I felt weak and hungry and irritated.  I learned that fasting knocks me off center, shakes me up and reveals my character flaws.  It's not fun. 

Then I decided to follow one of Jen's suggestions and fasted from seven foods in my ordinary diet.  This was easier than the water fast, but it still got old fast.  I was not entirely successful.  One particularly stressful day I came home and ate cinnamon rolls.  These are not one of my trigger/binge foods, but they are a treat and one of the seven foods I chose to fast from.  I learned that I still turn to food for comfort.  One day my daughter drank the last of my unsweetened tea.  I snapped at her.  I was tired of drinking tea with no sugar to start with, but if it ran out I only had water.  I was embarrassed to see that a drink was that important to me.  Another day I was again bemoaning my lack of sweet tea when I looked at my glass of water and decided to be grateful.  I was thankful that I live in a country with pure water and that I can even afford to buy bottled water if I want to.  I learned that my life is full of blessings that often go unrecognized.

Food month was hard.  That means I need to do it again sometime.   I have more to learn... but this month is clothes. Bring on the next adventure.