My name is Abbey. I am currently in my mid-twenties and the outreach coordinator at Restoring Eden.
I believe that my faith is the matrix within which everything else about me finds its place. My disclaimer is that I’m not entirely sure how that happens or what it looks like.
In my work at Restoring Eden, I often hear terms like “stewardship” and “environmentalism,” as well as phrases such as “caring for the least of these” and “protecting God’s creation.” But the over-use of these phrases and the lack of creative and engaging explanations and examples of what they mean sometimes fails to capture my attention and inspire me to act. I want to get back to the heart of these phrases and how God intended them to play out in our lives.
I was recently chatting with a good friend about my views on our disconnection, as a society, to the sources of our food, water, energy, etc., but how as consumers (and especially as Christians) we have a serious responsibility to know where these things come from and to make sure that our consumption of them is not doing damage. As I blathered on, wondering why we think we deserve convenient and cheap, she said, “You know, what you’re talking about makes me think of the word ‘stewardship.’ But I would never think of the ideas you’re talking about if you had said ‘stewardship’.”
So here I am, with a deep desire to (re)discover the meaning of these terms that we throw around so loosely sometimes, expecting others to understand what we mean and to be convicted by it. I don’t feel that I am in a position to convince anyone of anything – honestly, I’m not even convinced of much of anything myself, at least not 100% of the time. But I think that’s ok. And I’m always encouraged to know that I’m not the only one. So my hope is that perhaps we can walk, run, and trip through figuring this out together.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Thank God.
