GroshLink

Although I've always had an awe and appreciation for God's creation, encouraged and cultivated through the outdoor activities of my family as I was growing up, as an adult I've been able to investigate some of the theology behind that awe.  Caring for our world is not a hobby or preference, it is a Biblical imperative.  It is part of who God designed us to be.  He put man and woman in the garden to work and till the soil, to grow food, and to care for the animals. 

Unfortunately as technology has marched forward toward making our lives increasingly convenient we have become divorced from our connection with creation.  In our family, we are taking small steps to try to reconcile that relationship.  Two and a half years ago we moved to our "homeland" of Lancaster County Pennsylvania, an area with a rich farming heritage and diligent work ethic.  Each year since moving I have added a little more "agriculture" to our half acre in an effort to grow some of our own vegetables and fill our yard with self-sustaining plants.  It's a labor of love -- a love I hope to instill in the hearts of our children as they labor beside me.  We will never be able to live totally independent of grocery stores, nor is that our goal.  But in the choices we make we try to be aware of the origin of our food and the energy it took to produce and deliver it. 

This winter in particular I have been checking the labels of fresh produce and purposely bypassing some fruits and vegetables which are not in season locally.  This small sacrifice reminds me that the bounty we enjoy in this country does indeed come at a price, economic, social, political, and environmental.  It will also make the local produce of summer so much sweeter and tastier after waiting all year for it.  God designed His world with natural rhythms and seasons.  I've just begun down the path of recovering those rhythms in an effort to live more fully in God's creation.