This Land is Whose Land? Part 2

So then, is it proper to understand that the gifts of the Earth are really gifts from God the Creator, what kind of gifts are they?  If you someone gives you a scarf or tie for a birthday gift you can use it, throw it in the back of the closet or just toss it in the trash. It is your gift, after all. But, suppose your best friend says, “This scarf matches your coat perfectly. Why don’t you use it?”, and she hands it to you. Now, may you throw that scarf in the trash?  When you receive that kind of a gift is there an implied promise that you will not be reckless with the scarf? Did you friend intend it to be yours forever, or only until you got a new coat? Or until your friend wanted it back?

If the ambiguous scarf-gift can cause us so much consternation, how much more the Earth and everything in it? Surely God gave the produce of the Earth as food for humans.  But how are we supposed to treat the Earth, this gift?  Throw it in the trash?  I read an interview with  a man in his 40’s who was taking over a control of his company from his father.  The company is an internationally famous plumbing-fixture manufacturer, but it is also engages is a major player in the golf and hospitality industry. Of all of the things that this new captain of industry could have talked about when ascending to his new post, he chose to say that he wanted to reduce the “environmental footprint” his company would leave on the earth. He said, "Business success doesn't matter much if we can't say we left the world a better place than we found it.” (David Kohler, Sheboygan Press, April 30, 2015)  What we with the gifts from the Earth matters to the Creator and Giver. But it also matters to us.

“A pygmy legend recounts the story of the little boy who finds a bird that sings a beautiful song in the forest. He brings it home. He asks his father to bring food for the bird. The father does not want to feed a little bird, so he kills it. The man immediately drops dead. So, the legend says, the man killed the bird, and with the bird he killed the song, and with the song he killed himself. When human beings destroy their environment, they destroy their own nature too.” Joseph Campbell Source: The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers (inward/outward, April 29, 2015)

As the Woody Guthrie song says, “This land is your land, this land is my land.” True. And, yes, “this land was made for you and me”. But, take care, the Creator is redeeming it.