Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Sandy Webb
Special to the Independent

George Orwell fans out there will recognize this play on his words. For plastics, the bottles labeled with a “one” or a “two” recycling symbol are the “more equal.” For now, the other plastics must be disposed of. It really is surprising to note what goes through my mind when sorting plastic: ones in this bag, twos in this bag, unrecyclable plastic in the trash. That only goes so far before other thoughts start taking me down the path of burden and resentment. Anyone who has seen the mountain of plastic bags over at Rainbow Recyclying will understand.

I’d spent several Saturdays volunteering with the McKinley Citizens Recycling Council, working with other volunteers to clean up that mass of plastic, sorting the ones and twos into different bags. However, I worked most of this particular Saturday morning alone, stopping occasionally to explain the sorting procedures to people who were dropping off their recyclables. Otherwise it was quiet, so I decided to pray while I was sorting. It was hard not to look at the pile and feel overwhelmed and discouraged, but I knew prayer would keep me going.

I searched my mental stockpile of Bible stories for one related to separating, and remembered Jesus’ parable of the tares and wheat (Matthew). Field workers discovered that someone had sowed a noxious weed into the middle of the wheat field and were all ready to hoe out the tares.

The owner of the field counseled a more prudent approach: wait until the harvest and then the differences between the tares and wheat would be obvious enough that it would be easy to separate out the nurturing food grain and bind the tares in bundles to burn.

So I would follow Jesus advice and take a more prudent approach to my separating. I would divide the fruitful thoughts that came to mind from the negative, even destructive ones. With each bottle or piece of trash, I would include a prayer thought. I started by thinking about the example of another MCRC worker who never complains about the task ahead, but just gets busy sorting. Another good example was the worker out at the warehouse who thanked us for helping load the baler on another Saturday. Those thoughts were the ones and twos. Then a “trash thought” came to mind: I’ll never even put a dent in this pile. I threw it out with the empty hamburger wrapper.

It’s great that more and more people are recycling: a keeper thought. Don’t they know how much work it is for volunteers to sort out aluminum, glass and plastic that’s all mixed together? A trash thought. God made us all in His image, therefore we’re all responsible: keeper. Some of us are more responsible than others: trash. We’re all God’s children so we have a direct link to the Father/Mother, guided to be a blessing: keeper. There is an answer to this waste problem: keeper. We’ll find the answer as we listen for inspiration: keeper. And so it continued.

This is more than a positive thinking approach. It’s about listening to what God is saying about the situation. It’s based on His law of good and the fact that He made all of us in His image (Genesis 1:27). So, if it’s a thought that logically follows from being God’s image, like teamwork, caring or responsiveness, then it’s a keeper. If it’s a thought that doesn’t express God’s image, like resentment or self-righteousness, we can let it go as not part of His law. “Man is the expression of God’s being,” writes Mary Baker Eddy in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” a spiritual guidebook I use. I could sort a lot of plastic thinking about that idea!

Interestingly, I wasn’t as tired as I’d been after sorting on those other Saturdays. Prayer insisting on God’s presence and grace had lifted me out of discouragement.

If you’d like to help MCRC move Gallup along the recycling path, call (505) 722-9257 for information.

If you’re interested in a way to let the good thoughts lift you up and let unhelpful thoughts go, come to the Christian Science Thanksgiving service at 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day at the Red Mesa Center, next to the Octavia Fellin Library on Hill Street. We also have 10:30 a.m. Sunday services and first Wednesday healing testimony services at 6:00 p.m. Or check out spirituality.com. Call (505) 722-0357 for information.

Weekend
November 22-23, 2008
Selected Stories:

NCI patient found dead

Man killed in I-40 crash

Hearing draws mostly pro-uranium speakers

More than a marker
Descanso memorials tradition questioned

Thoreau Care employees unpaid — again

100 years ago ...

Poco Loco Productions seeking actors

Deaths

Area in Brief

Spiritual Perspectives
— PDF Page —

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