Commitment

Today is my wedding anniversary. Back when Ronald Reagan was president, I made a commitment to Terri that I would love her forever, and let everyone in the world know. Honestly, it's not that difficult a commitment to keep because Terri's a really wonderful person and a true gift from God to me.

As a result, staying committed to her is pretty easy. Sure, we've had tough days, weeks, months... no, really, just a few days scattered here and there these past twenty-one years, so remaining committed is almost as easy as breathing.

Not all commitments are so easy. The commitment to try to live an intentional life in harmony with the planet is not so easy. Not for me, anyway. Sometimes I forget to bring my aluminum water bottle with me and find myself buying a plastic bottle of water, or going back out to the store in the car because I forgot to pick up something at the grocery store. I try, but like many people, I forget and I'm often pulled in too many directions at the same time. Multiple tasks can make my promise to be committed to keeping the Earth at least as good as I found it tough to do.

Being around other people who are committed to the environment helps move me back on track, just like seeing the ring on my finger, or seeing Terri each morning remind me of the promise I made twenty-one years ago. Commitment reminders are good things.

Basic things can be reminders to be committed to the environment. Believe what you want to about the beginning of the world (me, I'm a God created it kind of guy), but one thing is clear about our planet, it does take care of us. It has since we sucked in our first breath outside of our mother. You could say that from day one, the earth has been committed to keeping us alive. Its natural processes produce oxygen for us to breathe; its land produces food for nutrition, and its amazing beauty is more than we can imagine, let alone realize.

But we're taking the earth's commitment to be there for us for granted. Air? Water? Land? Sometimes we behave as if these things are endless, that they will be around no matter how we treat them.

But like a marriage, taking a partner's love for granted will eventually put distance between each other, no matter how hard one person in the relationship tries to keep things close. So it is with the planet. The sea will try to cleanse itself; the wind will blow and dissipate air pollution, and the soil will try to renew. But after awhile if we don't take care of these things, of this planet that has been committed to our life since the beginning, it won't be there for us.

Remind me where we'd be without the earth again.