Last year, my husband suggested we give up paper napkins in favor of the kind we wash.

And dry.

And fold.

Often.

It’s a small step. I hope the energy we are using to launder those napkins will be offset by the energy used to manufacture and dispose of the paper variety. It’s hard to know, sometimes, what is best for the world.

A few things seem obvious. Like smashing our Amazon boxes and hauling them uptown to the recycling trailer. Or using them to line the flower beds we fill with mulch from trees that were about to die of natural causes in our yard.

That’s what we are doing to celebrate Earth Day this year. (April 22)

We hear lots of conversation right now about saving the earth. And a lot of division about how best to accomplish that goal. We want to do our part. We are on the lookout for the things we can change, like napkins and light bulbs and plastic straws. We want to be good stewards of the creation God has given.

But – even more – we want to care for the living, breathing, lovely souls all around us. Because, in the end, only those souls will endure. The Bible tells us how this story ends. Things will go badly for a while. We are all proof of that. But, in the end of days, Jesus will come again to the world He created. And then, He will make all things new.

Even the heavens and the earth.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2

I’m looking forward to that day and that world.  And, I’m doing my best to take care of His things until He returns.