“Nature Deficit Disorder” – The Importance of “Creation Appreciation.”

For our friend Kevin, our house is "half way home."  A couple of weekends ago he spent the night with us during the long trip from Idaho to California.  Kevin is a student at a university in Idaho studying Natural Resource Management.  In one of our conversations that late Saturday night, he told me about a conversation he had with a PhD student.  The researcher found that young people today suffer from a disorder that does them great harm.  He calls it "Nature Deficit Disorder."  Christian children suffer as well.  We might call it "Creation Deficit Disorder."

For our friend Kevin, our house is "half way home."  A couple of weekends ago he spent the night with us during the long trip from Idaho to California.  Kevin is a student at a university in Idaho studying Natural Resource Management.  In one of our conversations that late Saturday night, he told me about a conversation he had with a PhD student.  The researcher found that young people today suffer from a disorder that does them great harm.  He calls it "Nature Deficit Disorder."  Christian children suffer as well.  We might call it "Creation Deficit Disorder."

    Each of us wants our children to be absolutely in love with God.  But if the truth is told, they might be more amazed with Apple, Google, or Microsoft than with the God of Creation.  They certainly spend more time with them.  Even driving to Grandma's house, for some, is an opportunity to watch a DVD, or a video that was downloaded to an iPhone.  Perhaps they would fall more deeply in love with God if they spent time admiring his handiwork.

    Don'g get me wrong.  I am writing this on an iPad, have an iPhone in my pocket, a MacBook in the overhead bin above me, and will probably publish this to the web from the inflight wireless internet.  I love technology and believe life and ministry can be enhanced by its use.  But as amazing as all these electronics are, nothing compares with God's creation.  The kids in our ministries need to hear about God's handiwork.  According to Psalm 19, it is displayed in nature.

  1   The heavens declare the glory of God;
  the sky displays his handiwork.
    2  Day after day it speaks out;
  night after night it reveals his greatness.
    3  There is no actual speech or word,
  nor is its voice literally heard.
    4  Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth;
  its words carry to the distant horizon.

    My granddaughter Emmaline is almost 20 months old now.  When she is at our house, we spend time each day in our back yard.  She loves to watch the birds at the feeders, smell flowers that are blooming, and water plants with her watering can.  (She really loves to water one particular rose bush.  I'm afraid it is going to drown.) 

    It would be easy to just enjoy a wonderful summer day in Oregon with Emmaline.  But I want more than that for her.  Every time we are outside we talk about the wonderful things God has made.  I want to connect the dots for her that God made the trees, the birds, the flowers, and most importantly, He made her.  God made her special because He loves her.

    Lets be sure that our ministries include large doses of "Creation Appreciation."  Not just for the beauty of it all, but for the development of a biblical worldview, because that is where it begins.  God made everything.  God made me.  God made you.  And he looked at everything and saw that it was good!

    Emmaline loves videos from "Go Fish."  This one is especially good for appreciating God's wonderful creation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df5PsEfC1XU&list=UU2ep0l3rqF2FMnxZMzB6rlg&index=1&feature=plcp

Have a great day serving the God who made you….