At the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth. He creates the land, the seas, the stars, the animals, and lastly mankind. The order of creation is incredibly important. Without the creations before us, we would be unable to survive. Human lives and the land we live on are interconnected in every single moment of our lives. However, as a result of the many technological advancements that we humans have made, we seem to have lost our once inseparable bond with the land on which we live. The argument could be made that this happened once a majority of people stopped cultivating their own food, or when we moved into cities, distancing ourselves from the wild. Either way, there is a clear disconnection between society today and the natural world around us.
Living in a world of seemingly endless human creation stops us from recognizing the beauty of God's creation that we live within every day. Our disconnection from the land is cause for many of today’s problems: all types of pollution, famine, war, and many types of unrest. Although I could go on and on about how we have ravaged the land on which we were born, I will not do so. Instead, we must focus on why God calls us to love and appreciate nature. Consider the intricacies of food webs, water and elemental cycles, and simply how our bodies function. God created for us a perfect world that we have decided to tear apart for our own (mostly) selfish reasons.
To love the land is to love God, to love each other, to love everything that lives on this earth. To feel the power of God’s presence in the land is where my journey with God truly began. On my confirmation trip, at the top of a small mountain in Idaho, my confirmation group was talking about Genesis, and how God created this beautiful place. We each went to silent prayer. I was in a clearing overlooking the valley and the surrounding mountains. In the midst of the worst wildfires in the history of the northwest, I saw rain. And when the rain stopped, I saw a double rainbow. For me, the closest experience I have ever had with God was feeling his power through his greatest creation, the land. As children of God, we all have an obligation to love and respect the land on which we live.
-Dylan Jeppe