By Traci Runge 
These past few weeks have been awesome. Nature has a way of refreshing my soul. The time my husband and I spent together in the mountains was relaxing, inspiring, reenergizing and humbling all at the same time. The sites and sounds of the amber glowing Aspens swooshing in the wind with the sunlight on my face brought me to tears more than once on our trip.
This week we took advantage of a break from school and made a quick day trip to Omaha to spend the day with friends at the zoo. Observing God’s creatures and the joy they bring my children makes my heart smile. On our way home, our son Jackson asked how people could see all the beautiful creatures and nature that God has created and not believe he exists.
I appreciate his point-of-view. He sees the beauty around him and he is grateful that God created it. He understands that it is a gift and one that should be cherished and respected and PROTECTED! There is a great deal of ugliness, hatred and pain in the world and I am thankful that on a day-to-day basis my children are not directly effected by many of the threats and struggles our world encounters.
I am however, worried by the apathy in our world. We are ALL guilty of it every day. Where are we headed? I feel that we have become desensitized to so many things that are damaging our souls, our health, our families our communities and our environment. We have traded wholesome and healthy for progress and convenience. Have we lost sight of the core values and what really makes a positive difference in our lives?
What are we prioritizing in our lives? Work? Play? Entertainment? Sin? Where do faith and family fit in? What about our environment and our communities? Are these areas of our lives getting merely leftovers? I joke with my family often that I would like to live in the middle of nowhere., just walk away from life as we know it and start over!
What if we could live simply again as the pioneers did. I am not saying abandon modern conveniences or medical advancements, but what if we ate whole, healthy, homegrown foods again. What if we played outside and worked in our gardens and bowed our heads to pray? What if we helped our neighbors and worked together for the good of the community. What if everywhere we looked sex and violence weren’t being paraded before us as if they were acceptable and expected.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you Jeremiah 1:5
What if we stopped tolerating and celebrating mediocrity and filth and held ourselves to a higher standard!?! What if every single day we worked to become closer to the image God has of us in his heart. What if every single day we shared his love with those around us instead of hate and jealousy and ugliness. What if we celebrated the beauty all around us, showed gratitude to our neighbors and friends and to our Creator and Savior, and simply lived to know, love and serve the Lord our God?
I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; Romans 12:1-6
In order to restore the peace and beauty to our world, we need to give glory and honor to our God. We need to raise our children up in His Word and in His Teachings. To make our Earth fruitful and prosperous we must be fertile soil and we must raise our children to be fertile soil.
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Mark 3:3-8
Contribute to the positive difference in our world and teach our children to do the same. This is a marvelous way to show our gratitude to God and to offer our children an inheritance like no other.
Blessings!
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