“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?” Psalm 8:3-4

I don’t know if my parents ever intentionally tried to teach us to be environmentalists. Still, life on the family resort tended to that direction. Our livelihood depended on the health of the lake supporting our resort.

From early on, I was aware that to protect the game fish our customers wanted, my dad would seine carp out of the lake, to be sent where they were considered a delicacy, or smoked for sale at the resort(with my dad’s secret recipe). There were visits to the fish hatchery, and conversations taking place about seeding the lake with Walleyes and Northerns.

In the winter, my dad set up a system of blowing fresh air into the lake, preventing fish from freezing out, when a heavy layer of snow, kept sunlight from reaching  oxygen producing plants below.

In the lean years, when the water in the lake was low, customers did not come, and our neighboring farmers struggled with their crops. I was acutely aware of how our environment, was affecting all of us.

As a child, I heard my parent’s worries and saw their anxious faces, as I prayed for rain, to lift the lake level, knowing it was necessary to sustain our business. I learned a healthy environment and economic stability were bound together.

Late at night, while my parents were serving beverages and snacks to the last of our customers, I would slip outside, away from the clamor and noise, to watch moonlight glimmer on the water. Pondering its beauty and mystery under star filled nights.

Those early years set off a lifelong concern for the environment.

The psalmist marveling at the wonder of creation, looks to the skies, the stars and the Moon, and asks what are we, that God is mindful of us.

Yet, recognizing that God has set us over all of creation.

“You have given mortals dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet.” Psalm 8:6

We are caretakers, and stewards of this gift, and of earth, sea, and sky, not only users and consumers . . . Meant to be protectors of  all that lives within it.

God set humanity  over creation to nurture it, love it, respect it and when it is in danger, fight for it. Our role is not to be simply spectators, but rather guardians of creation and stewards of its gifts. A gift lovingly given to us, by our creator,  for us and all who follow us to enjoy.