I am learning: On loving God’s Creation and men’s souls

The bus stopped and the passengers prepared to get off. The lady beside me popped a candy into her mouth. She slipped the candy wrapper into the narrow groove of the bus window. Then, the bus ticket from her bag joined the candy wrapper. I had to muster all my willpower to stop myself from confronting her. I really wanted to ask her, “What do you think you’re doing? After Ondoy and Pepeng? Can’t you keep your garbage inside your bag until you find a trashcan?”

What I just described is a common scenario in our metropolis. Passengers indiscriminately throw thrash while riding jeepneys, tricycles, buses, trucks and even their private cars. Heaps of garbage-filled plastic bags mushroom at street corners. Empty lots become repositories of unwanted junk. Apparently, we Filipinos haven’t learned our lesson from the tragedies that our country has just gone through.

Yes, our flood control system is substandard but it was aggravated by its severely clogged drainage networks, all filled with garbage. Big ones and small ones. Here we see people who don’t care about nature. People who don’t realize and don’t remember that the trash we throw away will always come back to haunt us. We forget that nature won’t take care of itself. It was given to Adam and his sons to take care of God’s beautiful earth. See what we have done so far with the responsibility given to us?

On the other side of the spectrum are organizations which fight for the environment. I often see them inside the malls or as I walk through the Ayala walkway. I understand and agree with most of what they are advocating for. Like I said, we are stewards of earth and all that is in it. However, I have qualms about those groups which veer toward extremism, becoming hyper-zealous for protecting nature while overlooking the reality that Creation is not the master to be served but, rather, its Creator.

I am not saying that we should not busy our lives taking care of nature. But we must remember that even this is just a reminder that our first calling is to share the Gospel. I believe that those who truly know God should have a high sense of stewardship for everything God created, that includes our environment. We might forget, though, that there is a more important kind of life that must be sustained. Spiritual lives.

We must remember that men’s souls are still more important. When Jesus came to earth, He gave us The Great Commission: To go to the ends of the earth and make disciples of men.