Make Your Local Area Cleaner

Tonight was a college night, and it was my turn on the rota to design and lead the opening worship alongside my friend Alison. We decided to build the 10 minute slot around today's LLLL task, focusing on our role as stewards of creation.
It can be overwhelming to think about the polar ice caps melting or areas of rainforest being sold off for oil drilling or development - and what's more there seems very little we can do to effect change in these huge environmental issues.
We can, however, bring about change in our local area and ask questions of ourselves. Where is creation in the places we live in being damaged and where is it being built up? Where do I stand on proposed local fracking sites? What needs to be preserved and what is necessary change?
Many small changes can bring about one big one, which is the whole ethos of Love Life Live Lent.

Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

Care for the World

Today's task was nice and straightforward- turn off the lights in rooms you're not using. I'm pretty good at this so have been trying to think more widely about Stewardship.
I know not all Christians agree but I feel that as God made us stewards of the earth it's our duty to protect and preserve it- it doesn't belong to us, we're just taking care of it. As with anything entrusted to our care we should do our best to deserve the trust put in us.

Matthew 10.29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father.

Operation Clean Up

Wasn't sure how the kids would feel about today's task but it turned into a little adventure.
In an effort to clean up our local area we were challenged to fill a bag with litter. Mike and I weren't sure where to take them- in all fairness we wanted to avoid parks as the kids finish school later on a Thursday and they needed to be fed before Jacob's guitar lesson.
We started picking up rubbish in the school grounds, then wandered down the passage towards church, picking up all the rubbish we found on our way. Sadly, bearing in mind we were merely walking between school and church, this consisted mainly of beer cans, cigarette packets and discarded lighters. Moving towards the lay by and grassy verge outside St Michaels church we found a lovely stash of baby wipes, more fag packets and a broken phone charger.
We'd filled our bag by the time we reached the millennium path so rewarded ourselves with a walk through the churchyard in the lovely late afternoon sunshine.
Jacob remarked that everyone should have a copy of our LLLL book, because if everyone filled a bag with litter everywhere would look much nicer.

Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Care For The World

Today we were thinking about caring for this awesome world we've been given. The task seemed a bit too easy- to turn off the lights in a room you weren't in. We're pretty good at that so we tried to think of other ways we could save energy or care for the environment.
We made sure we put the recycling out but sadly had to use the car as our half term excursion this morning took us a few miles away. One thing we did do was keep the thermostat a little lower- once we'd warmed the place up after waking up to temperatures of -4!
We recently had a new thermostat fitted which we're hoping will help with our energy conservation. I have to say that with the house being a wee bit cooler than I'd like it may be an early night tonight!

Genesis 2:15

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it