IF YOU LOVE ME . . . .

How many times have you said:  "If you love me, you will . . . "  fill in the blank for some deed.  If I love you I won't steal from you.  I won't tyrannize you.  I won't be prejudiced against you.

 On this Valentine's day when love is in the air, let's think about love a minute.  It's not some word that hangs in the air.  It involves action.  Love does not stand in isolation.  It needs an object--what or whom do you love?  And it needs action.

 And so I ask everyone who says they love fresh air, fresh water, fertile soil, life-giving nutrient dense food--is your love producing action?  If you love all that stuff, how is it being demonstrated in your life?

 I would suggest that if we're buying and eating food that destroys all of these precious ecological resources, we do not love the resources at all.  We flippantly toss around love toward things with scarcely a thought toward ramifications or accountability.

 If you love animals, then how can you eat meat, dairy, or poultry that comes from animals disrespected in their production model?  If you love yourself, how can you ingest junk food?  If you love your children, how can you feed them Happy Meals?

 You see, it's easy to be a feel-good culture, talking without walking.  If we're going to espouse something, we need to carry it through for real.  Otherwise we're just blowing smoke.

 Part of love, too, is granting a bit of leeway.  In social settings, I don't wear my food and farm beliefs so close to my chest that I'm a boor about food.  I can go to a church potluck and not make a spectacle of myself.  That doesn't mean I eat everything on offer, but it does mean I don't have to stand up and crusade against the lady who brought the bucket of KFC.  Cultish I could say.  I don't walk around all day with a frown because the world isn't going my way.  And I don't see every person who doesn't embrace my beliefs as being an enemy.  So there's a soft side to this whole issue as well as a hard side.

 Shallowness in belief and action is easy.  Depth is hard.  Allowing deep seated love to penetrate our actions is probably the hardest thing we have to do.  But doing that is what actually moves culture and creates a different world.  Let's love it into existence.

 What did you eat today that proved your love for soil?