What If God ...?

03-22-2021

By Brenda Pogue

What do you think of when you think of home? Is it a building in which you reside? Is it a structure that you share with others? Merriam-Webster has various definitions of home including, “one’s place of residence,” “house,” “the social unit formed by a family living together,” “a familiar or usual setting: congenial environment,” etc. These definitions reflect a human perspective. But the definition may be different if we look at home from the perspective of the squirrel, a bird, a tree, a flower, or a river.

When we look at home from the point of view of creation, it takes on a completely different meaning. Squirrels create nests high in the trees. They build their nests from leaves, twigs, grass, and other natural materials. Squirrel nests can be found in any tree on the earth. If we consider the trees in which squirrels find home, trees might consider home to be rooted deeply in the soil of the earth. The oldest trees in North America, the Great Basin bristlecone pines pictured above, are nearly five thousand years old, and according to EarthSky.org., can be found in California. Some trees make their homes 230 feet deep into the earth.

Sciencedaily.com reports that about 8.7 million species make earth one’s place of residence. Yet, the earth is able to make a home for all of us. What if God, when giving humans charge over creation, gave that charge to certain humans? We all do not take our responsibility to the earth to heart, but some do. They take up the slack for those of us who sometimes take earth for granted. They should be thanked, applauded, and emulated, for there is no place like home.

By Dcrjsr - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11040152