It was never my dream to work at a land trust. In fact, until I interviewed for my position at Joshua’s Trust I had no idea what a land trust even was. Previously, I was working as a teacher for international students at a private school and I loved it. I knew I was making a difference in my students’ lives. When I got married, moved, and had to find a new job, it wasn’t easy. Thanks to my friend, I managed to get an interview at JT and it was a great fit since the office is in my town! A luxury I had never had before. The only problem was that I wasn’t passionate about the work I was doing. That was until I was studying through the book of Genesis and realized that stewarding the earth, a huge part of Joshua’s Trust’s mission, was one of the first jobs God gave humans.
I am a Christian and my faith is an integral part of who I am, but in all my years of attending church I have never once heard a sermon on stewarding the earth. Why is that? Why is it that if this was the first job humans were given, that it is never talked about? Well, I did a little digging and it comes down to politics and apathy. Politics in the sense that there is a misconception that if you are pro-conservation you are automatically democrat. (Though in my opinion politics really shouldn’t have this much sway on your faith.) And apathy in that, especially in the western world, we do not feel the effects that our damaging practices have on people and the earth. (I was just reading how farming practices in Central America caused an inability for farmers to yield crop from the same land more than one year in a row.)
But it isn’t just Christianity that calls its followers to stewarding the land. Indigenous people groups, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism; just about every major world religion has a doctrine of stewarding the earth in their sacred texts (Check out the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology for more about this). If 80% of the world’s population profess to having some sort of religious belief and if nearly all the world’s religious have a component of earth stewardship, why is it so difficult to come together to take care of our planet? I suppose I don’t have an answer. But I do have a challenge for you. Whatever your faith or beliefs, find out how stewardship fits in and then put your faith into action. For me, I feel more purpose in my job here at Joshua’s Trust because it’s in line with my faith, which in turn makes me work harder. I know not everyone works in a job where stewardship is literally the mission, but everyone can incorporate it into their life. Give to or volunteer with your local land trust. Create a pollinator patch in your garden or give up pesticides. Make sustainable swaps in your day to day choices. Whatever stewarding the earth looks like to you and your faith, do it and encourage others to as well.
~ Kailyn Murphy