Change brings Change
As I listened to the news last night, a man from a recycling center was lamenting the avalanche of cardboard they have received this year due to all the shipping boxes people have gotten rid of since Christmas. Due to a change in the way many people are shopping on-line these days, which seems like an efficient thing to do, we now have too much cardboard waste. Change brings change.
It reminded me of several situations discussed in my college ecology course where animals or plants were introduced into an area to "help" with a problem, only to cause a bigger problem. One in scenario in particular was the mongoose introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii.gov site noted the following about the mongoose:
The mongooses found in Hawai’i are native to India and were originally introduced to Hawai’i Island in 1883 by the sugar industry to control rats in sugarcane fields on Maui, Moloka’i and O’ahu. This attempt was misguided, because while rodents make up a large portion of the mongooses’ diet, their substantial negative impact on other desirable birds, insects, and animals outweighs their minor impact on rat. Mongoose are now widespread on all of the main Hawaiian islands except for Lanaʻi and Kauaʻi, where there are no known populations. Mongooses can live in both wet and dry conditions including gardens, grasslands, and forests.
These invasive mongoose are now depleting the native birds by eating their eggs and young chicks as well as noshing on fruit, insects, reptiles and the like. I've found in my own life I've introduced people or things into my daily routine thinking they would be a good thing and then when I realize the habit or person is not particularly good for my physical or mental health, it's too late to do anything about it. The person may be a part of the fabric of my life by then, i.e. associated with my work, hobbies, church, or what have you and the habit is comfortable and would be dearly missed if gone completely even though it is not God's best for me.
So then what? What do you do with the mongoose that have been let loose in your life? The Hawaiian government now has laws about bringing mongoose to the islands now, but that's too little too late. Am I destined to be stuck with my invasive species? If it were just me, I would say, "yes." But I have a God that is mighty. He can do things in and through me that I could never do on my own. So now I will pray and ask God to root out the "mongoose" in my life and help me to release them to a habitat they are better suited to inhabit and will quit doing damage in my personal ecosystem. I will pray that God's change will bring good change.
It reminded me of several situations discussed in my college ecology course where animals or plants were introduced into an area to "help" with a problem, only to cause a bigger problem. One in scenario in particular was the mongoose introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii.gov site noted the following about the mongoose:
The mongooses found in Hawai’i are native to India and were originally introduced to Hawai’i Island in 1883 by the sugar industry to control rats in sugarcane fields on Maui, Moloka’i and O’ahu. This attempt was misguided, because while rodents make up a large portion of the mongooses’ diet, their substantial negative impact on other desirable birds, insects, and animals outweighs their minor impact on rat. Mongoose are now widespread on all of the main Hawaiian islands except for Lanaʻi and Kauaʻi, where there are no known populations. Mongooses can live in both wet and dry conditions including gardens, grasslands, and forests.
These invasive mongoose are now depleting the native birds by eating their eggs and young chicks as well as noshing on fruit, insects, reptiles and the like. I've found in my own life I've introduced people or things into my daily routine thinking they would be a good thing and then when I realize the habit or person is not particularly good for my physical or mental health, it's too late to do anything about it. The person may be a part of the fabric of my life by then, i.e. associated with my work, hobbies, church, or what have you and the habit is comfortable and would be dearly missed if gone completely even though it is not God's best for me.
So then what? What do you do with the mongoose that have been let loose in your life? The Hawaiian government now has laws about bringing mongoose to the islands now, but that's too little too late. Am I destined to be stuck with my invasive species? If it were just me, I would say, "yes." But I have a God that is mighty. He can do things in and through me that I could never do on my own. So now I will pray and ask God to root out the "mongoose" in my life and help me to release them to a habitat they are better suited to inhabit and will quit doing damage in my personal ecosystem. I will pray that God's change will bring good change.
Numbers 23:19
God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
Wow! Love this!
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