What Does it Mean to be Stewards of Creation?

This past summer, I was blessed beyond belief to lead people on hikes through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and show them the beauty of creation. Everywhere you go in the Park, there is always something new to see, and questions people ask that caused me to think about things in a new and sometimes surprising light. 

On one of these hikes, we passed through an area of land that served as a border between National Forest Land and the National Park. On this border, the National Forest Service was cutting down trees and putting them in slash piles to be burned when the winter snow would be sufficiently deep to stop the spread of any wildfire. In 2020, Colorado experienced 2 mega-fires, defined at over 100,000 acres burned, which affected both the north and south ends of the National Park. These fires had been exacerbated by a decades old Pine Beetle infestation that had left millions of dead standing trees in the area, a forest that had 2x the number of trees in it than could be supported healthily, and of course a 20-year drought. Following these fires, both the National Park and National Forest Service have taken to heart an understanding that they must manage the land, thinning out the trees and working to curtail pine beetle infestations. 

However, when you’re hiking through dense trees and emerge into this thinned area, it can come as a bit of a surprise if you don’t know the full story behind what is happening. One of the kids who was on the hike seemed a little taken aback and asked what all the piles of timber were. When I answered, this kid then asked the question of why they had to be cut down. They were alive after all, why not let them keep living. I had to explain that the forest was overcrowded and unhealthy, and by cutting down some of the trees, it made the forest healthier and less likely that a bad fire could come through and kill everything.

This seems like a reasonable question. Often, when we think of the wilderness, we envision vast tracts of untouched land that regulates itself and is unspoiled by human hands. But, this is a false image. Almost every bit of land on this planet has been managed and shaped by humans for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is only when humans have mis-managed the land that disasters like the 2020 fires become unavoidable. In Rocky Mountain National Park for example, the Ute tribe would follow the game up into the mountains for the summer, then down to the lower elevations for the winter. However, before they left, they would set fire to parts of the land. They knew that when they returned the following year, that area would be greener and more full of life than they had left it, and that it would be good grazing for the game they were following. This kept the forest healthy, and ensured that the fire dependent species in the park would continue to grow and thrive. In order to ensure the flourishing of life, some things must be pruned and tended to in a way that seems contradictory or antithetical to the ultimate goal.

Humans have been commanded from the very beginning to tend to creation. When God created man, Genesis tells us that He made us in His image and gave us rule over the land. To rule the land is to lead it as a King leads his people, in wisdom and humility. It is no coincidence that God brought Adam and Eve into a garden when they were first created, and when humanity was exiled, humans became farmers and herdsmen. Christ himself speaks in parables that talk about the proper stewardship using the metaphor of the earth. Think of the Parable of the Vineyard, or the fact that he chose fishermen to be his closest Disciples. We are to tend the land God has given us with care and love. Gardens, farms, fisheries, and vineyards demand constant attention. Weeds can get in and compete with the plants for nutrients or if herds of animals are returned to exactly the same place, they can eat everything, or we can overfish the land and leave nothing for anyone to eat. Man is to actively manage creation, and ensure it is livable and thrives not just for us, but of everything God has created. But, this is not the only way the image of proper stewardship and active participation in the work of creation can be taken.

What we do has consequences, whether it is physically in the world, or in our own hearts. Properly tending a physical garden is a perfect example of what we must do in our own hearts. Jesus is very explicit in both Matthew and Luke in saying that the heart is full of evils, and that we must tend to it. Weeds are constantly trying to outgrow the good seeds planted by God in us. Our wants, desires, and wishes can cause us to ignore that which is true, good, and beautiful, to fall short of our true calling in this life, and the next. To be fully working with God and not against Him, our inner life must reflect our outer life, and if we tend our hearts wisely, so too we can tend to creation as God intended. Now, this is not easy.

Because we live in a fallen world, this task is especially hard. We must work at it. Just as we will live by the sweat of our brow, so too we must struggle to purify our hearts. If we leave our inner life untended, we fall into habits and modes of thinking and feeling that create an unhealthy forest in our hearts. If we leave this for too long, hardening ourselves to God and His command to continually turn towards Him, a fire can come and consume us, a fire that we cannot handle by ourselves and create hardship and crisis in our lives that God does not intend for anyone. We can look around us and see the people who don’t tend to their inner lives and are suffering for it. Our culture is obsessed with people who can appear healthy and happy on the outside but fall into scandal, depression, substance abuse, or some other spiritual ailment. Even some of you reading this may feel as if you are being consumed by a fire and feel lost or hopeless. I know I have been there, and can say that a significant reason I have been in the midst of that fire is because the weeds and thistles took hold of my heart, fueling inner turmoil and malaise. But, God is always ready if we turn to Him, to help us quench the flames that are hurting us. By turning to Him, and slowly working on our spiritual life, what once felt dead and charred, turns into a flourishing of new life. It will hurt. We must pluck out weeds, or burn away unhealthy aspects of our inner forest, but this pain is rewarded with life and joy and light. Unlike the all-consuming fire of the enemy that leads us to despair, this gradual process undertaken over the course of our life leads us into the fullness of God’s love, goodness, and mercy. 

It is still funny to me how a simple question such as the one that was posed that day can illumine so much. Talking about why we cut down trees that appear healthy as a means of healing a forest and preventing greater calamity can stand as an example of good stewardship of physical creation. But, it can lead to a reflection on something so much deeper than that. We are all called to tend to physical creation, but to also to tend to our own hearts. By using the deeply biblical images of God as gardener and planter, so we too can tend to our hearts and heal from our own thorns and dead timber, growing closer to God, and becoming more like Him.