Weekly Celebrations, Actions and Meditations
To Promote Earth Stewardship
Week 3: April 6-12: “Let the water under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let dry ground appear…Let the land produce vegetation …” (Genesis 1:9-11, NIV).
Focus on God’s creation of plants. In April, plants seem to be giving thanks to God also with their cheerful blooms! Never, never forget that we are totally and inescapably dependent on plants. Plants are not only the first players in the energy chain because they use the sun’s energy to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water, but in doing so, they liberate the oxygen that we breathe! And that’s not all! They pump groundwater up from underground aquifers into the sky to form rain, a process you may remember from middle school, called transpiration. They are needed to keep our biosphere (life on earth) in balance and right now we desperately need more trees to use up some of this carbon dioxide that is causing global warming. Not only land plants, but algae in the oceans also contribute significantly to this global balance. So plant a tree!!
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Celebrations · Take a walk on a blossom-strewn pathway, look up at the blue sky and say a prayer of thanks. · Visit the National Arboretum. · Visit Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown. · Attend the Gardens and Grace Conference: www.ang-md.org/gardensandgrace/. · Give a flower gardening book to a friend. · Visit local and state parks every few weeks to see the changes in vegetation as the season progresses. Ask about gardening with native plants. · Plant butterfly-attracting plants around your mailbox and watch the miracle. (Watch out for those bees love, like sedum, or your mailperson may object.)
Photo: Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC - 2008 |
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Action
· Research the nutritional, as well as ecological, benefits of eating locally grown produce.
· Save trees by reducing the amount of paper you use. Do you really need to print e-mail? Do as much as you can on the computer without printing.
· Stop junk mail. Register at: www.thedma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html.
· Explore how you can make a planned vacation trip “greener”.
· Grow a flower garden using native species. Check out the Maryland Native Plan Society at htp://www.mdflora.org/index.html
· Pull up and dispose of pesky invasive species such as garlic mustard. They crowd out native species which are important wildlife food sources.
· Go organic. Hand weed or hoe rather than spray, and don’t be overly tidy. You, your garden and wildlife will benefit from a more relaxed regime.
· Grow sprouts (www.sproutpeople.com) and watch a seed magically change from a little dry bean to a green plant.
Meditation
The Earth was made through, and for, Jesus. How would He judge the way we live in it today? Take time to reflect on stewardship of the Earth both globally and personally.
Week 4: Sky, Outer Space and Weather