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S. A. J. Lyttek, a multiple award-winning writer, always loved writing, but didn’t arrive at the profession in the typical manner. After college and graduate school, she plunged into government consulting. In this environment, she discovered a knack for writing tests, interviews and other measurements. That soon became the focus of her career—reigniting her love for the written word. Thus captivated, she spent evenings freelancing “fun” writing including short stories, poems, articles and cards. When her eldest was a toddler, she quit full-time work to stay home and write. Eager to spend more time with her children, homeschooling intrigued her. From preschool through high school, she homeschooled both sons while continuing to freelance. While an integral part of the homeschooling community, she developed and taught writing classes to a generation of homeschoolers. Married to her childhood sweetheart, Gary, Mrs. Lyttek loves to share her commitment to learners of all ages and her fascination with the written word.
Yesterday, as I post this, was Earth Day.
Now, while I don’t actively celebrate it, I think remembering our planet is a good thing. We don’t have the choice to go live on Mars or Vulcan. This planet, this Earth is our home. And as we should maintain and take care of any apartment, home, or tent we live in, we need to take care of the fragile spinning globe that God provided for us.
In fact, the first role given to human beings, given before sin entered the world, was to tend and take care of the place they lived. Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Our job from the beginning of time has been to keep the growing things growing.
Somewhere along the way, human beings decided that the Earth was theirs to plunder rather than keep. Maybe, like a child who’s been disciplined for choosing wrongly, they reacted to the curse and said, “If I can’t have what I want and paradise, too, then I might as well take everything good out of the world and make the gift of land I’ve been provided into hell.”
Genesis 3:17b-18 (NKJV) “Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.”
In spite of the penalty we brought upon ourselves, by wanting to be God essentially, God never intended Earth to be hellish. If you look at the wording of the curse, it promises food. It says we will eat from the ground and from the field. We do, though, have to fight the thorns and the thistles.
That said, even thorns and thistles have their uses. Milk thistle has been used in herbal remedies for centuries. Blackthorn and hawthorn also have histories of application for human health. Not only that, but thistles grant havens and food for butterflies and thorn rows and bushes protect the nests of smaller birds.
Even the curse has beauty woven in. That’s the magnificence of a good and bountiful Creator.
I’ve never understood treating the earth as something to be used, abused, and then thrown away. Its bounty and richness should be treasured and nurtured. Does that mean we ignore its provisions? No. We were given it for food from the beginning of time. God even clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins, so that too, is included in how we should live.
When I think of the ideal way to live, treating the gifts of our world with respect, I think of my grandfather. He lived in his own home until just shy of 100. He kept a garden and enjoyed its produce. He didn’t pay for a trash service. Instead, he composted anything organic to go back into his garden, burned what would burn to heat his workshop in the garage, and repurposed and reused everything else.
He lived lightly. He enjoyed the benefits of what creation offers while contributing back to it whatever he could.
I’m not that good or that diligent.
My latest passion on being kind to the world is finding ways to use and consume less plastic. For instance, neither the dishwasher detergent we use nor the laundry sheets have any plastic within them or in their packaging. It’s not much, but it’s something.
Personally, I believe God commands all our days to be Earth Days, not just the one that we observe. Tending the planet and its bounty goes back to our original work—something deemed right and holy before we ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Like Grandpa, let’s find ways wherever we can and within our abilities to live lightly. Christians especially should honor the world in obedience to God’s original plan and design.
Because, until God creates the new Earth, it’s the only one we have.