Monday, April 14, 2025
“Conserve Today!”
As Holy Week 2025 arrives, we encounter a different kind of Lenten Challenge. Today’s task is to conserve everything we possibly can.
What does this mean in the context of our Lenten Challenge? It’s simple: Don’t create any unnecessary waste today. Paper, wrappers, boxes, and tin foil are all items that we can recycle. This is included in our conservation.
Fresh water should also be high on our list of conservation today. Let’s not waste water when we brush our teeth, bathe, or drink. Let’s not waste fresh water unnecessarily while cleaning our dishes or waiting for the hot water to arrive. Fresh water is a blessing, and we can do our part to conserve it.
Food is also on our list of things to conserve today. Most of us recognize that wasting food is a terrible tragedy that can have a far-reaching impact, but today, we’re going to focus on it. If we eat out, we don’t order more than we can consume or save for later. If we cook at home, we should focus on the same thing by not preparing so much food that we’ll be throwing any of it out.
Sure, coffee grounds aren’t so easy to conserve. Neither are eggshells, peanut hulls, or fish bones. But guess what? They can be recycled into compost. Dig a hole, drop it in, and cover it up. Done.
We can drive slower to conserve fuel (or ride a bike instead). We can turn off lights, TVs, and electronic devices when we leave our rooms, homes, and businesses. We can adjust our thermostats and use ceiling fans to help conserve electricity, and we can do plenty of other things if we think about it.
The purpose of Conservation is to protect this wonderful world that God created. God relies upon us to take care of it as best we can. We already recognize that we must take care of the planet for ourselves and future generations, but today, we should be intentional in doing our part.
Conserve. Recycle. Repurpose. It all counts today, but it counts even more tomorrow!
“God named the dry land Earth, and he named the gathered waters Seas. God saw how good it was. God said, “Let the earth grow plant life: plants yielding seeds and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind throughout the earth.” And that’s what happened. The earth produced plant life: plants yielding seeds, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind. God saw how good it was.” (Genesis 1:10-12, CEB)
