God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. Genesis 1:31 NRSV

My daughter had a college religion class, where she was to ask her parents what they believed about creation. Knowing my daughter was fully versed on what I thought, instead I spun a tale about the Garden of Eden being the planet Mars. It fit the Biblical narrative of being forced out of a lush garden we could never return to. I told her we had to leave because we completely messed it up. Ever since, each time I see an article citing evidence of water or other life sustaining minerals on Mars, I make sure she see it.

At times though, I wonder about my story. We live in a world rapidly suffering from intense climate change. Our collective actions have neither been good for us or for the earth. The animal world suffers even as the most vulnerable people on earth, become ever more vulnerable. Oceans rise, shorelines disappear, storms grow more fierce and fires ravage forests.

Some of us cope by telling ourselves, “climate change isn’t real” or our changing climate “is simply a cycle of nature,” denying human impact. The trouble with denial is, denial can’t change reality. It can’t un-spin hurricanes, restore shorelines or un-washaway villages. Denial can’t cool an overheated planet or undo raging forest fires.  Only a genuine response can or will turn the climate around. The answers are evident, but not popular. They cost money, and create winners and losers in corporate profits.

What gives me hope is the way God imparts knowledge just when we need it most. I think of the way answers to complex situations rise up in different areas of the world at the same time.

God still loves this world, God calls good. Because God loves the whole world, God sends people to guide us in its care. May it be that we listen and act on the wisdom God is giving us.

Turn your ear toward wisdom,
and stretch your mind toward understanding. Proverbs 2:2 CEB