Recycling: God, the Planet, and the Lazy Human

As I was taking out my trash today, I became infuriated once more at my family for something that I feel we should have worked out a LONG time ago.  What would that be, you might ask?  For those of you who are wise enough to read the title so boldly put at the top of this blog know that it is over recycling. 

I'd like to think of myself as a "green" advocate (it is my favorite color, if nothing else). After all I made the bulk of my car shopping decision a few months ago in miles per gallon (which, I won. 35 MPG on a cheap GM product!).  However, the actual manner in which I live is horrid, black as opposed to green.  Or technically red, as I believe red and green are opposites on the color wheel.

I blame a great deal of my red-ness (which does NOT imply red-NECK-ed-ness, although non-recycling tends to be one of their hallmarks) on my father and partially my mother.  It was my father who said that recycling was a hastle and would stink up the house.  Trash men ran by the house, recycle men did not. 

So what do I do when I get mad?  I suppose some would say I put God in a box, grab my Bible, and find a scripture to back me up.  Or I try to explain, peacefully, and not just for the sake of arguement, my position which may or may not include biblical texts.  This one does though.

From Genesis 1:28 (The Message) "God blessed them: 'Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take Charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the ari, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."

Whether we believe in a literal creation story or not, the point of the author of Genesis (traditionally Moses) is clear- Take care of this world.  We are to be in charge of, or to a more refined point, stewards of all of God's creation.  By the gift of life, we find that we have to accept God's first commandment to man- love his creation and treat it like a gift that God has made especially and uniquely for you.  And indeed- he has!

So as I took out the trash my family collected over a period of time (my guess is roughly three weeks... long enough to produce a truck bed full of full bags) I realized that I have to act.  We can wait for someone else, but in the end we almost always come to realize the fact that WE are it.

Soon I will live on my own, soon I will make my own rules.  So, soon I will be a recycler in all that I can be. 

Amen