This is a view from my tent at Sirikoi, in Kenya's Lewa Conservancy: elephant, impala, Grevy zebra, plains zebra, baboons, waterbuck and more, living the lives they are supposed to live.
Each time I step into a healthy African ecosystem, I find myself taking a deep breath and becoming immersed in the feeling of being at peace and at home. And then, invariably, I find my breath taken away by the overpowering majesty of scenes like this.
The magic happens when we become a part of those worlds, not apart from them.
If my daily 21st-century life takes so much away from our natural world through extraction and redistribution of its resources, I wonder what I can give back to those I take them from?
The Book of Genesis introduces us to God and His Word, then quickly establishes the world that we have been given for both our sustenance and custodianship. While we clearly have been given this world as a blessing, we were certainly not to carelessly and selfishly waste it! We cannot be a "good and faithful servant" and enjoy our birthright without also being good custodians of it.
Have we shifted too much toward being ravenous consumers while forgetting our role as planters and guardians?
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