Pastor's Message
August Spirit Steps
I was getting more irritated by the minute. I was behind a red Toyota Camry after turning onto north 76th street in Milwaukee when a napkin came flying out of the window and landed in the street ahead of me. “How rude” was my first thought, “don’t these people care about littering?” As I began to fume about this, it occurred to me that they may have had some loose napkins in the car and when they opened the window one of them took off and blew out. That certainly has happened to me. As I settled back down, a ball of aluminum came shooting out the window and bounced in the street. I felt my face turn red as I thought, “that was no accident”. I began to fanaticize being an officer of the law, turning on my red lights and siren, pulling them over, reading them the riot act, and writing a ticket for littering; just then a paper plate flew out the window. Just as I was deciding whether or not I would pull up alongside of them and say something, the red Camry crossed over two lanes and made a left turn. I continued south on 76th street toward my home.
As I reflected back on this over the last couple of days, I decided that I could allow myself to escalate my irritation over this kind of behavior or I could increase my responsibility in being an environmentally caring person. I am choosing to do the latter. It was similar to the way that I decided to deal with my anger over the oil that has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. That is to recognize that there are some things that we cannot affect in a direct way, but that does not mean that we are powerless. It is easy to point a blaming finger. In the case of the oil spill, there are those who would blame BP. There are those who would blame the Coast Guard. There are those who would blame our government officials. And as the blaming goes on and on, oil continues to pour into the Gulf and we continue on as if another disaster wouldn’t happen. In this as in all things we need to stop blaming others and take stock as to what our role in was; what part did we play and what can I do to change that.
Certainly, my consumption of petroleum products helps to fuel the demand for more and more oil, to be exploited in riskier and riskier ways. One of the things we can do then, no, one of the things I can do is to look at ways I can cut back on my use of petroleum products. Can I be more efficient in combining trips? Are there times I could ride my bike or walk instead of jumping in the car? I know that there are many ways I would be able to reduce. The question is will I?
Will I only get angry when I see someone litter or will I examine the litter that I produce through unnecessary or unwise purchases’. Will I continue to get angry when I see someone litter and continue to patronize those places that package things in environmentally damaging materials when eco-friendly material is available?
Scripture tells us that we have a responsibility to care for God’s creation. Am I willing to do my part?
May you have peace in your day.
Pastor Bob
