Land of plenty
by Colleen Fitzpatrick
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For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land (Deuteronomy 8:7).
Many of us can trace back to when our family arrived on this good land. They came for a variety of reasons. Some were seeking religious or political freedom; others came for safety or economic security. Many have found it to be a good land indeed.
Before our arrival, the First Nations people nurtured the land and lived well on it. They had looked after the ‘flowing streams with springs and underground waters’. Their needs were simple, and they lacked nothing.
The arrival of European settlers upset the established order. New ways of managing the land were implemented, and the iron and copper and other minerals in the stones and hills were harvested to fill pockets.
People ate their fill, but did they remember to bless the Lord for the good land he gave?
The richness of the land has diminished; the rivers and underground waters have been drained, and God’s commandments are no longer guiding the lives of many. I wonder what God is thinking about us now?
We are constantly hearing about extreme weather events and natural disasters – heatwaves, floods, bushfires, mudslides, mouse plagues and, of course, the pandemic. Species of animals and plants are in danger of being lost forever.
On the one hand, some people are earning more and more – eye-watering numbers of dollars which can never be spent. On the other hand, many people do not have enough money to pay for food and shelter.
Rather than wallow in a sea of depression and pessimism, let’s be positive! We can walk gently on the earth, and if we each do our bit to be good stewards of the earth, we can make a difference. And as we do that, let’s bless the Lord our God for bringing us to this good land while remembering that it is God’s good land – not ours.
Creator God, you made the world and all that is in it, and you saw that it was good. Forgive us for when we have taken the land for granted and have used it to serve our own purposes. Help us to be better caretakers so that it is sustained into the future. Amen.
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