SOLI/Update - Stewards Must Pay Close Attention3

Stewards have to pay close attention

The church meeting began at 7 p.m. and seemed to go a little bit long. But it couldn't have been that long, I figured, because there was still plenty of daylight when I walked to my car. So I was really surprised when the dashboard clock revealed it was nearly 9 p.m.

So light out, so late? It seemed as if it was only weeks ago that the sky was dark at 7 p.m. when the meetings began.

It's amazing how quickly we adapt to a changing reality that we fail to notice even profound changes, so long as they happen slowly enough.

Such has been one problem in convincing people that global warming is real. Or that environmental problems pose as much of a threat as they really do. We seem to be adapting to the new reality because it's happening too slowly to catch us. Scientists have been gathering old photographs of the Rocky Mountains to show just how much less the snow-pack is nowadays. Long-time residents, who have been aware of the change but not the extent, are flabbergasted.

When you look at how the human organism is reacting to incremental environmental changes, we see how slow adaptation blunts the effect of changes that over the long term are quite profound. When I was a boy in the 60s and 70s, nobody talked about peanut allergies, and now fatal reactions to nuts are widespread enough to require scary warning labels on food and for some kitchens to ban nut products entirely.

But the peanut allergy thing happened slowly enough so people have the impression that large numbers of children always had allergies to peanuts. Or asthma. Or ADD. Or autism. Or for that matter, that large numbers of older adults had Alzheimer's disease.

As stewards of God's creation, we are called to use the earth's resources wisely and to protect it from pollution that can harm life. But first that means opening our eyes, cleaning out our ears and sharpening our minds. The days are getting longer, but only for a few more weeks.

--Rob Blezard, webmaster and editor
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