Written by Ivy Rowan, Tatalu Conservation Resident
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A Reflection From a Conservation Resident
My name is Ivy Madeleine, and I’ve had the wonderful privilege of taking part in the Tatalu Conservation Residency this fall. Over the last few months, I’ve spent my time gleaning from the wisdom and knowledge of the Conservation Science team, getting my hands dirty and my shoes muddy.
I’ve always been particularly drawn to God’s creation and the protection of it; this manifested itself in my indulgence of all sorts of environmental research in my free time. Even as a middle schooler, I could have told you all the statistics on climate change (all really delightful information, as you can imagine). I assumed it was all I needed to know – that the most extreme and shocking facts were the ones that were most productive to memorize. I was so passionate, but the passion was not sustainable. I ached to see change, but I was quickly crushed by the burden of the global and felt paralyzed in my own ability to contribute.
I’ve now learned this story is fairly common, proven by the newly coined term “eco-anxiety”.
Coming to A Rocha symbolized the opening of my heart again to this area that once brought with it a lot of grief. A brand new curiosity bubbled in me as I reached for healing in my own life and the earth God created. I asked heaps of questions, hungry for discovery and eager to be filled.
About halfway through the term, as I was walking through the woods and marveling at the vastness of life in the forest all around me, I subconsciously took note of the array of native species that filled my eyes. I shook my head at the himalayan blackberry, reed canary grass, balsam and all the invasive species that were out of place. I wondered at how my experience of the world had radically changed by knowing the names of who and what I shared a home with. The place I was in felt so much more personal to me, because I knew it.
Here, I have learned many valuable lessons, so that it is quite difficult to boil it down into one. But I’ve experienced how, when we occupy ourselves with only the global, we tend to collapse under the enormity of a God-sized burden He didn’t intend for us to carry. Let us not forget that when we step outside and touch the soil under our feet, here too is a place that we can know, love, experience, enjoy and protect. When we do this, our senses come alive, curiosity is stirred and our eyes lighten.
Psalms 18:19 testifies, “He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”
There is a mysterious connection between delight and protection, and this is modeled first by God. A deep sense of commitment to the protection of this earth isn’t stewarded by the noise of alarmism. Rather, it is cultivated when we give ourselves permission to delight in what He has made, immersing ourselves in the here and now – the ecosystem of our backyard.
As I bid farewell to the refuge that is A Rocha, I know I’ll be taking these revelations with me into the next season of life. I pray over every earthkeeper that delight is restored and their hope becomes unshakeable. Like David prayed in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”
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Find out more about the Tatalu Conservation Residency here.
