Landfill sites are bursting at the seams. Huge seas of plastic are floating on oceans. Roadsides are cluttered with rubbish all over the world. We have a good chance of discovering human litter in forests, mountains and beaches, wherever we go. Yuck!
Humanity is looking for satisfaction-buying and consuming, getting disappointed and then buying some more. Our yearning for instant gratification is destroying the world in which we live. Literally! Or maybe it should be “litterally”!
The prophet Isaiah is pointing us towards the source of real contentment and delight-life lived in a relationship with God. All that uncontrollable consuming is exposed as fraud, our self-focused anxieties and worries melt away, and our troubled souls discover consolation. We find ourselves immersed in God’s mission of love, healing and reconciliation with ourselves, our loved ones and indeed with God’s magnificent creation.
Consoling God, we are lost. We are drowning in all kinds of trash in our need for instant gratification. Help us, heal us and point us towards true happiness that comes from living our lives with you and in community with our neighbours. For the sake of your whole creation, help us to be better stewards of fresh water, pure food and clean air. Amen. — ES