Creation Care and Children | By Ian Sandland
My wife and I teach Primary. This week as we studied the Come Follow Me lesson about the creation, I was happy to discuss with the children the topic of the stewardship we have over the Earth, including caring for the planet, plants, animals, and other people... everything God has created.
After reading from Moses 2 that God considered all his creations “good”, I asked the children “How do we respect and care for these gifts that God has given us?”. A six-year-old girl who was visiting from out of state was the first to reply. She immediately said, “don’t litter.”
Dara and I live in the UK for three or four months each year over the late spring and summer. We both have a deep love for the British countryside. And it hurts my heart every time I’m walking through a lush forest or driving by rolling green fields and I see the landscape marred by trash. I’ve seen old refrigerators left by the roadside in the bucolic country roads leading up to a historic castle. I’ve seen empty sandwich boxes and potato crisp wrappers left on top of tombstones in a centuries-old churchyard. And as I hike the tall hill near my home each week, I often see the remains of snacks and beverages carelessly left along the wooded path up that hill. I’m so angry and disappointed every time I see this rubbish in these beautiful places.
I’ve often thought about the people who litter. Why are they so selfish, so careless, so willing to desecrate the beautiful gift of nature? I have heard of programs in some countries where young school children are taken out to clean up litter along roadsides so that they can learn to appreciate having a clean environment. And as they mature, they learn that we pollute the earth in less obvious ways like through CO 2 emissions and microplastics.
Seeing that innocent little six-year-old girl immediately connect creation care with not littering made me realize that truly understanding the essence of the creation and our duty to care for the Earth is the foundation for teaching young minds to care for the Earth. They can be taught to understand the obvious horrors of tossing McDonald’s wrappers out of car windows, and the less obvious transgressions such as increasing CO 2 emissions and multiplying the microplastics in our environment. We welcomed our first grandchild to the world a month ago. I hope that I can imbue him and any future grandchildren with this understanding. And I hope that other adults will continue to reinforce these concepts with children so that our rising generation can hold dear a strong desire to care for God’s creations.
