I feel this too. Especially since becoming a mother. I’m 25 yet the weight of the future hang on my shoulders like I’m 45. In some ways I think the Lord wants us to feel this burden. Maybe not all of it (cause that’s enough to drive a person mad), but enough to make change in their own personal lives.
Thank you Lore. I’m in my 70’s and have lived, felt all you write about as has lots of your readers. Amazing how I feel so much of what you write. My happiest times are when I’m in nature, simple things like picking tomatoes I’ve grown, walking in a forest. You express life so beautifully and I appreciate you helping us to put words to what we know in our hearts.
Thank you for sharing. As many have already stated, I relate to the church doctrines of fire and brimstone, preparing for "the place of safety" and oh yeah, Y2K. To think back over those times, and how focused some were on "the end times" instead of being present and aware of our roles in causing a positive change still baffles me. I live in south Florida and the oceans are hot! The coral reefs are dying, we take the sea and the life in it for granted. It's been so warm, I started to think on the scene from the movie " Predator" I think the the second one with Carl Weathers, when the natives describe the visits of the villain when it grows hot. Maybe this is our hell. And like you said, it's our own doing. And yet, where are we going to go? We love each other right, we love nature and try to preserve our little plots, maybe that's the point. Each one of us doing what we can and love will survive. God bless
This is the post that compelled me to subscribe…wow. Thank you for all your beautiful writing—have so enjoyed your offerings through the years on sayable, Instagram, etc.
So many villains, so little time. And the heroes get buried on page six. I am looking for God's light and His will and purpose always. I agree with so many of these stewardship responses, but I think that even if we are only a little candle that fellowship is evermore important. Each generation has its own scare for the time in which it blooms. Generation Z is reviving despite everything. Christians need to remain cross-generational. For every disaster there is a need to be filled. Let's be that. Look at what Jesus did during the Roman occupation nonstop for three years. No matter what the world is doing, we must focus on reaching God's souls primarily as He decides when our earth is done. Yes, give women and children clean water world-wide so they don't have to travel treacherous miles; yes, stop selling our domestic ground water and land to huge corporations foreign and domestic; yes, stop human trafficking in our own country as well as others. The list goes on. Christians have a lot to do together, not alone.
I am in Keswick, UK for the Keswick Convention today (a beautiful corner of God's creation) and it has been so refreshing to hear so many of the speakers mention environmental issues and that this is an area for repentance from Christians. In the main talk today, the speaker said our doctrine of the church is deficient. I agree. But also our doctrine of the earth and our responsibilities to it is in an even worse state, and it shows in the deep scars visible on the landscapes in our so-called Christian nations. This is why reflections and advocacy like you, Lore, have done here are so important.
As Wendell Berry said, "The land cares for those who take care of it". If we don't stop our destructive ways soon we will learn the hard way the opposite of this statement. The land does not care (or abundantly produce) for those who do not care for it.
That poem is thought provoking and full of hope. I feel like not much being written these days brings hope. We had similar childhoods... my single mom was also constantly paranoid about end times, "mark of the beast" stuff, Y2K, and all that. I'm 40 now and similarly to you, amazed at how much I throw my personal information around, haha. (Though, differently from you, I love going to the doctor and am amazed that I can go whenever I want! Between poverty and paranoia, I only saw a doctor as a child when something was broken.)
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about faith and families and love and the earth. So much of what you write is what I have been mulling around in my head after growing up in fundamentalist church and then 15 years of attending a MacArthur-ite church.
The World is Burning
Wow. I feel this one in my bones. Thank you for writing. ❤️
I feel this too. Especially since becoming a mother. I’m 25 yet the weight of the future hang on my shoulders like I’m 45. In some ways I think the Lord wants us to feel this burden. Maybe not all of it (cause that’s enough to drive a person mad), but enough to make change in their own personal lives.
This was incredibly, incredibly beautiful and inspiring!
Thank you Lore. I’m in my 70’s and have lived, felt all you write about as has lots of your readers. Amazing how I feel so much of what you write. My happiest times are when I’m in nature, simple things like picking tomatoes I’ve grown, walking in a forest. You express life so beautifully and I appreciate you helping us to put words to what we know in our hearts.
Thank you for sharing. As many have already stated, I relate to the church doctrines of fire and brimstone, preparing for "the place of safety" and oh yeah, Y2K. To think back over those times, and how focused some were on "the end times" instead of being present and aware of our roles in causing a positive change still baffles me. I live in south Florida and the oceans are hot! The coral reefs are dying, we take the sea and the life in it for granted. It's been so warm, I started to think on the scene from the movie " Predator" I think the the second one with Carl Weathers, when the natives describe the visits of the villain when it grows hot. Maybe this is our hell. And like you said, it's our own doing. And yet, where are we going to go? We love each other right, we love nature and try to preserve our little plots, maybe that's the point. Each one of us doing what we can and love will survive. God bless
I love that you say that you are not ashamed to say that you love the earth. Why is that so shameful for us Christians? It surely is the heart of God.
This writing is a gift of beauty, truth, vulnerability and heartbreak. Thank you for offering it to us, to me. It is cherished.
This is the post that compelled me to subscribe…wow. Thank you for all your beautiful writing—have so enjoyed your offerings through the years on sayable, Instagram, etc.
So many villains, so little time. And the heroes get buried on page six. I am looking for God's light and His will and purpose always. I agree with so many of these stewardship responses, but I think that even if we are only a little candle that fellowship is evermore important. Each generation has its own scare for the time in which it blooms. Generation Z is reviving despite everything. Christians need to remain cross-generational. For every disaster there is a need to be filled. Let's be that. Look at what Jesus did during the Roman occupation nonstop for three years. No matter what the world is doing, we must focus on reaching God's souls primarily as He decides when our earth is done. Yes, give women and children clean water world-wide so they don't have to travel treacherous miles; yes, stop selling our domestic ground water and land to huge corporations foreign and domestic; yes, stop human trafficking in our own country as well as others. The list goes on. Christians have a lot to do together, not alone.
Yes. This.
I am in my late 40s and not a mother (despite wanting/trying) and all of this is how I feel. All of it.
Marvelous morning thoughts, so good to consider as we read this afternoon. 🌳🌳🌳
I will be thinking about this for a while. I relate in so many ways to what you’ve written here, and I hold that precious hope with you.
One of my favorite poets *coughJencough* wrote a poem about this:
Choosing Sides
If have to pick sides
Let me side with the bees,
With summer blossoms and
Winter snowdrifts.
Let me side with the children
I know and the ones I don't
With the late shift nurse
And his aching back, with
The grandmother digging
In her garden.
Let me side with the earth
In all her sighing
The stars in all their singing,
With stray dogs and street
Artists, with widows and orphans.
Like Berry, let me say
Everything was for love of
The forest I will never see,
The harvest I will never
Reap. I pledge my
Allegiance to the world to
Come.
I am in Keswick, UK for the Keswick Convention today (a beautiful corner of God's creation) and it has been so refreshing to hear so many of the speakers mention environmental issues and that this is an area for repentance from Christians. In the main talk today, the speaker said our doctrine of the church is deficient. I agree. But also our doctrine of the earth and our responsibilities to it is in an even worse state, and it shows in the deep scars visible on the landscapes in our so-called Christian nations. This is why reflections and advocacy like you, Lore, have done here are so important.
As Wendell Berry said, "The land cares for those who take care of it". If we don't stop our destructive ways soon we will learn the hard way the opposite of this statement. The land does not care (or abundantly produce) for those who do not care for it.
That poem is thought provoking and full of hope. I feel like not much being written these days brings hope. We had similar childhoods... my single mom was also constantly paranoid about end times, "mark of the beast" stuff, Y2K, and all that. I'm 40 now and similarly to you, amazed at how much I throw my personal information around, haha. (Though, differently from you, I love going to the doctor and am amazed that I can go whenever I want! Between poverty and paranoia, I only saw a doctor as a child when something was broken.)
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about faith and families and love and the earth. So much of what you write is what I have been mulling around in my head after growing up in fundamentalist church and then 15 years of attending a MacArthur-ite church.