Seriously though, I'm not a hippy...I wear pearls!

I've been pretty much avoiding this topic for some months now, but the Lord has been working on my heart in matters that I wanted nothing to do with for most of my life*- the environment. But when Pastor Richard gave his sermon this past Sunday, it put it into perspective. As Christians, we need to be stewards of God's creation. This is such a sticky topic, and so many people get upset when others bring it up. Mostly, because it has been so politically charged, and people can get really pretentious about it. I want to talk about it not to be pretentious or to tell anyone what they need to do but:

A. To argue that this is not a topic of politics, but a topic of conviction, and as Christians it is okay to think about such matters.
B. To hold our family accountable

A. I must admit, as I sat there on Sunday reading what the sermon covered that day and I read "God is Green (and Why It Matters)" I thought to myself, "great, all Seattle churches are hippy. This is just going to be uncomfortable. Thiiissss is going to get political." But, as he spoke, I realized it really isn't a matter of politics, it's a matter of what scripture says, and how the Lord convicts us.
I really urge you to listen to this sermon. Even for someone that is conservative like me, it gave a new perspective on the topic. The Lord gave us His creation for us to rule over it and take care of it, not to exploit it. Therefore, we need to be responsible in environmental matters. Nature declares God's glory by being fully itself.
Am I saying you need to go sell your car and ride your bike to work? No. Am I saying to have your own chicken coop in the backyard? No. Am I saying you should hire goats to graze your grass roof? Please no. Just seek the Lord, not humans, for His guidance.
Here is the advice Pastor Rich gave us
1. See creation
2. Get informed
3. Pray
And that is what we as a family are trying to do.

That brings me to point B.

As a mother of a small child, it has been laid on my heart to be more informed about what goes into her body, and how we are taking care of the earth for our children to enjoy. Some of these things my friends, such as Beth Stoner and Meg Rowland, have discovered years before, but I'm a slow learner, mmmmk? Here is what I am going to try to do for us as a family.

1. Make Ruthie's food. Not only does this cut down on waste, but I know exactly what is going into her little body. I'm still working on making her meat (kinda gags me,) but until then she is getting tastes of our food.
2. In terms of meat and eggs, try to get it from farms that treat their animals right - free range, organically fed, etc. (Deuteronomy 25:4) It means we don't eat as much meat, and it also means I need to do more research. Doing this keeps us from most salmonella outbreaks etc, and we stop supporting the farms that abusively treat the animals. I certainly wouldn't let anyone treat Punkers that way, so why would I treat a cow or chicken any different? (and NO I do not believe animals are just as important as we are in God's eyes, but again, we are called to care for them.)
3. Compost - okay, as a germ-a-phob and arachnophobe, this is very difficult. Just put the compost bin on a massive bridge surrounded by wolves, and you have all my biggest fears wrapped up in one. But, why not use that waste and turn it into something good? I just try to have Danny take out the compost instead of myself.
4. Recycle - this too is hard (spiders, germs, large bridges, wolves, etc. The less time taking things out by the trashcan the better in my mind) but reducing any waste of any sort is a step in being responsible. I it amazing how much less trash we have when I am responsible with recycling and composting. Side note: I tried to recycle as a kid...and I had bags and bags full of coke cans in the garage saved up to recycle. Dad saw it and thought I was collecting trash and threw it away. See the neat freak mentality I inherited and how these things can be tough?
5. To be content. God will give us enough - but there is such thing as too much. Why do I naturally want too much? I just need to be content with enough. When I am content with what He gives me, it is much easier to live simply by any convictions he places on my heart (I just hope any future convictions doesn't include milking my own goat...I kid, I kid.)

Again, I am not saying NOT doing these things is wrong, these are just some of our own convictions (though I urge everybody to do number 5) and putting them on here helps keep me accountable, because goodness knows it is much easier to throw food down the disposal, buy whatever I want, and throw away my coke cans at home. All I know is that as a child of Christ, He gave me the responsibility to be a steward to his creation, and I want to try to take that more seriously - and listen in prayer to what He has to say. So here goes!
*at least since I was 12. I remember boys in my grade school class calling me Jessie Spano. Twelve year old Jaci Freeman wanted to save the whales.