As a newly-wed, I find it exhausting doing housework. It literally never ends. Just once, I’d like to be able to think “and THAT is the last load of washing for 6 months.” I’ve even been thinking about buying more underwear so it can be longer between washes! Coming from a share-house, and before that a mum-house, chores and housework were sporadic and rostered – not constant, and definitely not everything. And the worst is when you leave it, juuuuuust for a little while…. Then BOOM! the house is a disaster area, and I’m looking around thinking ‘In such a colossal mess, where do I start?’ and I end up just sitting in front of the television with my eyes blinkered to all else.

I think lots of things in life are like that: when the problems seem overwhelming, it’s tricky to know how to tackle it. And that is what happened with this ecology stuff; the more I read Baulkham’s book, the more snowed under I felt. I started researching this and that, and realising that the problem is so big, and so complex, and so messy… at the same time as trying to remember the humility of being a creature…that the only thing to do was sit down and have a glass of wine.

That’s why Chapter 5 “From Alpha to Omega” was so encouraging – it re-centred everything around Christ, and helped me to refocus on the end goal: everything truly under the Lordship of Christ.

“Because Christ is the creator of all things, the destiny of all things is bound up with his. Because all things were made ‘for him’, he will ensure that they reach his goal.”

This is where motivation comes into play: what will keep me taking these issues seriously and doing something about them in my life is that a) Jesus will achieve the end, and b) in His doing so, I'm taking part in Jesus' goals. When we lose sight of the bigger picture, things become more complicated or hard or tedious than they need to be. Another example would be that just like when we find it hard to evangelise (although in a sense the stakes are higher there), we need to remember that we're part of what God is doing in the world, and can therefore take joy in doing small things, even in fitful starts. What matters is attitude (or ‘mattitude’ for short): what can we reasonably expect from caring about the creation now as God sees it?

“… to see the creation whole we must see it in relation to the crucified and risen Jesus.”

The answer, as it always is (and it should always be), is in Jesus. In being found in Him, we know where we’re headed – and that means we know where all of creation is headed. And just as our hearts and bodies are being transformed and will be completely renewed, so too is the eco-system that provides for our needs, and that we need to tend to much better than we currently do, for the sake and the name of JESUS.