{"id":3920,"date":"2018-01-28T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2018-01-28T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T18:45:00","slug":"faith-and-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2018\/01\/faith-and-earth.html","title":{"rendered":"Faith and Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earth serves as a bountiful source of life, beauty, and food for us. It\u2019s only natural we\u2019d want to return the treatment. But human ego, greed, confusion, and fear tempt us to do that which is unnatural, and suffering is felt. Too often, we make others suffer first.<\/p>\n<p>But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way. What is natural is possible.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us find help in prayer or meditation as helpful in quieting the human egos bent on self-destruction and self-deception. The mind\u2019s eye sees peace and encouragement. We can look around and find people who are contributing to the health of Earth. We can join them or we follow their footsteps on our own.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2018\/01\/26\/for-christians-the-green-revolution-is-stalling-and-politics-may-be-why\/\">Religion News Service<\/a> posted an article January 26, 2018 that juxtaposed environmental care and religion. Evelyn Tucker, co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and the Ecology, \u201cpointed to programs such as Yale Divinity School\u2019s master\u2019s degree in <a href=\"https:\/\/divinity.yale.edu\/academics\/degree-and-certificate-requirements\/concentrated-master-arts-religion-mar\/religion-and-ecology\" target=\"_blank\">religion and ecology,<\/a>\u00a0which trains future ministers to view the environment as a critical component of faith formation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The environment has always been a critical component of my faith. I enjoy my daily walks in the woods. The natural environment tells me love and light are real. It tells me I can\u2019t stop newness and healing. It humbles me and inspires me to share goodness, to tread lighter.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I think before I buy and notice I buy less.<\/li>\n<li>I turn off unneeded lights.<\/li>\n<li>I eat smart, from my garden as much as possible.<\/li>\n<li>I read instead of watch TV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I believe we were given dominion to take care of Earth, not to dominate. Just as I believe I was given dominion to take care of my children, not dominate them.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"en-NIV-23292\" class=\"text Matt-6-9\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThis, then, is how you should pray:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"poetry top-05\">\n<p class=\"line\"><span class=\"text Matt-6-9\"><span class=\"woj\">\u201c\u2018Our Father in heaven,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"text Matt-6-9\"><span class=\"woj\">hallowed be your name,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span id=\"en-NIV-23293\" class=\"text Matt-6-10\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">10\u00a0<\/sup>your kingdom come,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"text Matt-6-10\"><span class=\"woj\">your will be done,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Matt-6-10\"><span class=\"woj\">on earth as it is in heaven.<\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span id=\"en-NIV-23294\" class=\"text Matt-6-11\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">11\u00a0<\/sup>Give us today our daily bread.<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span id=\"en-NIV-23295\" class=\"text Matt-6-12\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">12\u00a0<\/sup>And forgive us our debts,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Matt-6-12\"><span class=\"woj\">as we also have forgiven our debtors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span id=\"en-NIV-23296\" class=\"text Matt-6-13\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">13\u00a0<\/sup>And lead us not into temptation,<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"indent-1-breaks\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Matt-6-13\"><span class=\"woj\">but deliver us from the evil one. (Matt. 6, NIV)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earth serves as a bountiful source of life, beauty, and food for us. It\u2019s only natural we\u2019d want to return the treatment. But human ego, greed, confusion, and fear tempt us to do that which is unnatural, and suffering is felt. Too often, we make others suffer first. But it doesn\u2019t have to be this&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community_world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Faith and Earth - Everyday Spirituality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faith and Earth - Everyday Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earth serves as a bountiful source of life, beauty, and food for us. It\u2019s only natural we\u2019d want to return the treatment. But human ego, greed, confusion, and fear tempt us to do that which is unnatural, and suffering is felt. Too often, we make others suffer first. 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