Dirty Hands

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2: 15-17


I do not know what it is like where you live...but where I live, here in the Thousand Islands area of New York, Spring is getting all coiled up and ready to leap out. My front lawn is no longer covered in snow, and the ice covering the river is receding more and more every day. In fact, today has brought forth a warm sun, the kinds of which I have not felt in a long time. Spring is an exciting time for folks who must live through a cold, snowy winter.

My wife, the gardener, is very excited for the arrival of spring. I have caught her a number of times creeping around the muddy yard with her face bent low towards the dirt of her gardens, fervently willing the tulips and daffodils skyward. She's got that twinkle in her eyes that I see when she wants to get her hands dirty. Before you know it, she will be fully invested in pulling, digging, cultivating, planting, and tending the ground around our property.

Perhaps you are a gardener as well...some people just love the process of working and caring for the land.

Isn't it interesting that after having created Adam, and this, remember, is prior to any type of sin or fall (everything was still heavenly perfect), God proceeds to plop Adam down in the Garden of Eden with the mandate "to work it and to take care of it." Interesting to me in a couple of ways - the first of which is the fact that God created Adam from the very dirt that He was now giving him responsibility over. Adam had a special intimate relationship with the Garden that God entrusted to his care. Secondly, God evidently created Adam to work in His paradise, and He trusted and valued him enough to allow him to work alongside God in a partnership of creation care.

Of course, the mandate that God gave to Adam, He gives to us all. He defines our relationship with creation for us. We too, are to work it and care for it. Now, this does not mean that we are all to take up Gardening on a full time basis...but is does seem to mean that God has created us to be "environmentalists." In the midst of our unique connection to the earth we have been charged by God to protect and preserve the creation. I believe that this calls us, not to view the creation as a natural resource given to serve us, rather, given that we might have the blessed privilege of serving the land. And this work is what we were made for, and through it we will bring glory to God - an act of worship.

As the Lord brings forth new life once again from the barrenness of winter, may He continue to entrust us with the valuable mandate to work and care for His glorious creation.

Be God's, Scott