God created – land, trees, streams and soil. He took great pleasure in the activity of creating and with each new marvel; He declared it ‘good!’ I think we often forget that God took great pride in His handiwork and, more to the point, He still does!

We read John 3:16, well, really we know it so well that we recite it by heart more than read it. But it is worth reading again. For God so loved the cosmos that He sent His Son – God loved the cosmos, and was compelled to take the bravest step and become flesh and blood to bring salvation to this entire enterprise. John could have written that God so loved the ethnos, the people inhabiting the planet. But no, God loves the cosmos – the world, all that He created. He loves all of it! Everything God created matters to Him and is worth His salvation. What a stunning thought. And this leads me to the next thought – if God so loves the cosmos, do I?

I have spent a lot of time learning to love the people God has placed in my life, in my country and in this world. But recently I feel God is widening the scope and showcasing all of His creation and inviting me to embrace it with the same enthusiasm that He does. This means seeing that the world, and those that are in it, are good and all beloved. It means we need to not only care for one another, but also the environment where God has put us. This is part of loving the cosmos, recognizing that God wants us to be trust-worthy with one another and with all created things.

So I look to the land that God has gifted to the Batwa families in Matara. It is good land with rich, dark soil that produces wonderful vegetation. There are trees covering the mountainside, offering shade and protecting the environment. Not too far from the village there is a fresh water stream with its source right on the land, clean water that is accessible for cooking, cleaning and drinking. You just see creation goodness all around when you walk the ground of Matara. This might as well be the Promised Land!

And so – this is part of the cosmos God created and loves, and this plot of land is what He has given to these 27 Batwa families. We have been entrusted with this land – like Adam and Eve, we are invited to cultivate the land, sustain its goodness and protect it from harm. As we care for the land, it will care for us. As we ensure that the environment remains healthy, then the trees will continue to grow and give shade, the water will remain clean, the soil continue to bear fruit and this will remain a hospitable place for the Batwa families.

So I have been asking myself – how do we care for this land in sustainable ways, so that we can honor God’s good gift and ensure that Matara remains a productive home for the Batwa families? How do we make sure the stream does not fill with silt and the water become too dirty to drink? How do we make sure we are tending the soil in a way that keeps it moist and rich – so it does not dry out and the top soil blown away? How do we ensure that the trees won’t all be chopped for firewood or charcoal production, but instead remain a canopy of shade and protection for the land? These are important questions to be asking as we move forward with the growth of this community. The relationship between the people and the land matters, it did in Genesis and it does in Matara.

These are good questions to be asking. These are good issues to be exploring together. God loves the Batwa families that live in Matara. He also loves the land of Matara. So we need to be thinking about how to care for both.