how beauty is destroyed

Every day for the last two months on my walk home from the bus stop to my house, I passed this little patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street, covered with trash. One day last week, I noticed that all of a sudden the trash was gone, but instead of grass underneath, there was nothing but dirt. All it took was a few months of plastic wrappers, aluminum cans, and decomposing food to completely destroy the beautiful green cover of that small rectangle of earth...it reminded me of the science experiments we used to do in junior high where we would create these elaborate displays explaining photosynthesis or how batteries work. Only here it was no experiment...but the real live consequences garbage has on the environment.

One thing that takes getting used to here is how blatantly disregarded the natural beauty of the land is, especially in the cities. Trash is just everywhere--in the streets, the parking lots, the sidewalks, vacant lots. People throw their fruit pits, plastic drink containers, candy wrappers, and anything else they want to get rid of immediately onto the ground. In most cases this is not for lack of appropriate places to put the trash, but rather for convenience or out of ignorance. Many people do not seem to realize or care about the effects of such behavior on the health of the community—even though there is this public awareness campaign sponsored by the mayor's office with signs all over the place about a “Managua limpia y saludable” (A Clean and Healthy Managua).

On a larger scale, one of the most truly beautiful features of Managua, its lake, is stunning to look at, but has been totally polluted by chemicals and now offers no economic or recreational benefit to the community. Instead of attracting tourism and business, the historic downtown Managua area near the lakeshore is deserted. My Nica friends even tell me it is dangerous to be down there alone during the day.

When we don't see creation as a gift to be cultivated, protected, studied, and enjoyed, its beauty is destroyed. Either in an instant or over time, the treasures of the earth that give us life, peace, joy, sustenance, and pleasure are reduced to nothing more than the patch of dirt on my daily walk home. This aspect of the ministry of reconciliation that God has given us has often been overlooked or marginalized by Christians, but “ya es hora” (it's past time) for us to reclaim this part of our spiritual heritage—not only to seek the reconciliation of men and women to God, to one another, and themselves, but also to the creation left in our hands to restore.

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed...”