What We Ask of the Earth
Nov 01, 2026
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What We Ask of the Earth
The miracle of being here
In the vastness of the universe, among billions of galaxies and
countless stars, there is this extraordinary planet.
Earth.
Our home.
Of all the centuries that have passed, of all the generations that
have lived and those yet to come, this is our moment in history.
This is our time on Earth.
There is something sacred in the very fact that we are here. God
has given us life upon this beautiful Earth, a brief passage
through a world of extraordinary wonder. Beneath the same sky,
countless forms of life are unfolding, each sharing in the mystery
of creation.
And for these few precious years, we are among them.
The Earth is in the room.
The table was once a tree. The glass was once sand. The cotton
we wear once grew in fields beneath the sun.
What an extraordinary relationship we have with this planet. It
gives us the materials of life, and through our imagination, we
create something new.
The power we hold
The natural world has no voice in the decisions made about its
future.
2
An ancient forest cannot stand before a government and ask to
remain standing. A river cannot enter a corporate boardroom and
speak for the life it sustains. The animals whose habitats are
disappearing cannot challenge the industries transforming the
places they call home.
We are their voice. Our voices matter at the ballot box, where we
help shape the direction of our communities and governments.
We vote with our dollars, too.
What we purchase helps sustain the companies and industries
that shape the natural world. Our money can support those
working to preserve old forests, protect rivers, and respect the
lives that depend upon them.
We do not have to own a forest to help protect it. We do not have
to live beside a river to care about its future.
An old forest has taken centuries to become what it is. Whether
an ancient forest survives for generations to come may depend
upon the laws we enact, the industries we support, and the voices
willing to speak for its future.
The deepening of the soul
We rarely know how far the consequences of our choices will
travel.
Some decisions shape the course of our lives. Others pass almost
unnoticed, woven into the ordinary hours of a day.
Yet each enters a world already moving, touching circumstances
and lives beyond our own.
3
A small kindness can travel through generations. A single act of
care can alter the future of a living thing.
The ripples do not end where the choices are made.
And perhaps the evolution of the soul has something to do with
this growing awareness: the recognition that even the most
ordinary life participates in the unfolding story of the Earth.
We may never know the full reach of what we have done, what we
have protected, or what we have set in motion. But our lives leave
their imprint upon the world, just as the world leaves its imprint
upon us.
What we give back
The choices that shape the future of the Earth are not always
made in distant places. Sometimes they are made in our own
gardens, along the paths we walk, or in the small decisions of an
ordinary day.
A tree planted. An animal cared for. A wild place left undisturbed.
And there is a quiet beauty in this exchange. The Earth gives us a
place to live, to love, to create, to discover, and to become.
We give something back through the way we choose to live.
We may never know how far our choices reach, or what
difference they make.
Perhaps the miracle is not only that we are here.
It is that, for this brief and precious time, we have the opportunity
to decide how we live upon it.
