My daughter Lucy has always been a “Save the Earth” kind of a gal. I love it about her. And even though she wasted a lot of paper to make signs promoting such wisdom, I didn’t want to deter her in anyway. So, I encouraged it. Fast forward to a few years later, and she’s still the same kind of girl in theory. And then I find both of my kids not recycling, putting their yogurt cups in the trash rather than the recycling.
You see, my kids are tweens now. And to put a yogurt cup in the recycling requires that they actually remove the spoon they used, rinse off both the cup AND the spoon, and then place the spoon in the dishwasher and the cup in the recycling which is significantly farther (2, maybe 3 steps) from the sink. The trash, however, is directly under the sink. That I’ve even gotten them to get their yogurt cups from the middle of whichever room they ate it in is beside the point. But it started when I went to get a spoon and couldn’t find any…
Anyways. My point is that I’ve encouraged the message of “Save the Earth” but not the actions. And so, this entire series, particularly the interview with Rev. Meighan Pritchard was a fantastic reminder that part of my actions need to be simply to help my kids understand the true meaning of this God Given Earth.
I had to giggle when Rev. Pritchard suggested that there’s two theories, those who play on the Earth like it’s a hotel, and those who practice intentfully that the Earth is their home. We let our kids jump on the beds at hotels.
When we’re home though, one of my nagging mantras tends to be, “We are not in a hotel here, there’s no maid service. You’re it. Get it done.”
Even I get sick of myself sometimes. (Don’t tell the kids.) But I think this week’s Darkwood Brew episode was a simple reminder to be more intentful. We know the message – “Save the Earth”. Or better, “This is not yo mamma’s hotel, it’s your home.” We all need to have a more active participation in it.
It’s just like that Bible to ring clear like that as well. I mean, you think Genesis 1, and you think, “Yeah, that’s the part where the world is created.” And then you think, whew, yay me, I remembered a book AND chapter of the Bible.
But as it was read this week, separating the water into Earth and Sky, it was so poetic. So beautiful. Makes me want to take care of the beauty.
So, I’ll take some time to do a little bit more research and put some new actions into our household nagging, woops, I mean recycling. And show my kids what I’ve seen this week, beauty in the everyday – I look at the sky and water with a better sense now. I want my kids to see it. So, I’ll show it to them.
