THE FUTURE GENERATIONS RECONNECTION WITH GOD’S CREATION

By Brian Onali NDUW

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

In Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good”.

 

Today. We are training our children to fear and dominate the natural world instead of cherishing it as God’s gift. Our children are learning that much of creation is dirty, dangerous, or disposable. How can we rewrite this harmful narrative?

 

The crisis of disconnection

In our cities and towns, children are growing up in an artificial world. A world where nature is treated as an intruder. Children scream at house lizards. Instead of marvelling at their God-given design. Cockroaches are sprayed. Dandelions are uprooted. Mud is seen as “dirty.” We do it without explaining that every insect has a purpose in our Creator’s plan. Across our continent, urbanization is severing the sacred bond between young souls and the soil that sustains them.

Through these daily actions, we teach our young ones a dangerous lesson. That creation is something to control, conquer, and cleanse. Not to protect.

Yet Scripture tells us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). How can we reconcile this truth with the way we raise our children to view nature as an enemy?

 

A lost inheritance

For most of human history, we lived in harmony with the land. Dependent on its bounty. Humbled by its power. But today. Children recoil at the sight of a millipede or scream at a harmless garden snake. We condition them to see nature as dirty, dangerous, or disgusting. Nature should be seen as a testament to God’s creativity.

Even in Catholic schools. Shout out to my former high school, St. Mary’s School, Yala. Our school nickname is “Black Saints”. We were taught and learnt that all life is sacred. We believe that spraying classrooms for ants and shooing away curious lizards is a contradiction to ourselves. What message does this send? That some of God’s creatures are “unclean”?

 

The spiritual cost

Teaching the children to fear nature, sever their connection to the very world that sustains them. They grow up believing humans are separate from creation. And that nature exists to serve us and destruction is progress. They should be taught that humans are part of God’s intricate web. Nature glorifies its Maker. Destruction is a sin against our common home.

This mindset leads to the environmental crises we see today. Deforestation, pollution, and loss of species. Each is a reflection of our spiritual disconnect.

 

Teaching the right lessons

As Christian parents and educators, we must rediscover wonder. Let children touch the soil. Watch ants. Marvel at butterflies. Not as “pests,” but as God’s handiwork. Replace “Yuck!” with “Look how amazing this creature is!”

We must model stewardship. Show reverence for life in small ways. Rescuing spiders instead of crushing them. Planting trees. Conserving water. As Pope Francis writes in Laudato Si’, “We are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what He desired when He created it.”

We must reconnect faith and ecology. Teach that caring for creation is not just “environmentalism”. It’s discipleship. Share stories of St. Francis, who called animals “brothers and sisters,” and the Benedictines, who saw farming as sacred work.

We need to transform our homes by replacing chemical sprays with neem leaves, as our grandparents did. Keep a “wonder jar” for children’s found feathers and seeds. We must revitalize our learning institutions by starting Laudato Si’ Clubs using the Jesuit African Guide to Ecological Education. Take first communion classes on ‘creation walks’ to bless trees. We should reclaim our parishes by celebrating ‘Earth Masses’ with offerings of native seeds. We must advocate for policy change by demanding that schools incorporate permaculture into their curricula alongside traditional subjects like math.

 

A call to conversion

The next generation will inherit an impoverished world if we do not change our ways. There is an urgent need to teach them to see nature as a gift to be cherished. Not a resource to exploit. Then, they will grow into stewards who heal rather than harm.

May you, like St. Francis, see “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon” as family. May you, like Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai, plant trees as prayers. May you, like Christ, recognize the Father’s hand in every sparrow’s fall.

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19).

Let us strive to raise those children.