My husband and I took a very special trip this
past Christmas. In celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary, he took me on a
surprise trip to New Zealand.
It was an exceptional trip all around, and we learned many interesting facts.
One of the facts that surprised me was that before man came to these two
out-of-this-world islands, there were only two species of mammals living there.
Both were tiny bats. Other than these, the islands were inhabited only by
reptiles and amphibians, bugs and birds.
Some time before 1300 ad, a group of indigenous Polynesian people arrived in New
Zealand. Over time they came to inhabit the islands, developing a distinct
culture, the Maori culture. With them came the Polynesian rat and the dog. The
arrival of the Europeans in New Zealand in the 18th century brought more mammals
to the fertile lands. Rabbits and deer were introduced for sport. Having no
natural enemies on the islands, these mammals thrived and soon became a
nuisance. Stoats were introduced to control the rabbits, and soon they, too,
were out of control. Possums were introduced to augment the fur trade. These
soon became so numerous that they are now jokingly known as "New Zealand Speed
Bumps" due to the vast number of possum road kill that can be seen along the
sides of any New Zealand road.
It wasn't long before the natural fauna of New Zealand began to suffer from
these introductions. There have been 57 species of birds that have gone extinct.
Some were overhunted for food. Others died off due to loss of habitat -
indiscriminate forest burning, logging, forest clearing for pastureland. Still
others became extinct because of the introduction of predatory animals,
including bird enemies numbers one and two, stoats and rats. The prominent
extinction groups are all 14 of the ancient Moa species, 11 rails, 6 wrens and
both of the indigenous eagles.
Of the remaining indigenous species, most, if not all, including the famous Kiwi
bird, are considered endangered.
It's sad, isn't it?
The story is similar for the flora of New Zealand. The giant Kauri trees are
seriously endangered thanks to the forestry and gum industries. Introduced trees
and plants thrive on the islands, crowding out the native flora.
Is it any wonder that the department of conservation in New Zealand is as active
as it is?
God created our world to survive and thrive in a delicate balance. Whenever man
has interfered with that balance, the result has been disastrous to the
indigenous animal and plant life of the region. We see this all over the globe,
and on a much more global scale, we currently are experiencing this with the
effects of global warming.
So why do we interfere with nature?
Mostly for selfish reasons. Sport, industry, convenience. But it makes you
think. God also created human beings to survive and thrive in this world. We
could have all lived in harmony with His nature, except for one tiny thing: We
weren't content to live as "part" of nature, we wanted to exploit nature and
bring it under our control for our own enjoyment and profit.
Where did we go wrong?
We went wrong the day we decided to look towards satisfying our own desire for
knowledge, rather than trusting that God was everything we would ever need.
Now I'm not pointing the finger at Adam and Eve. Any one of us would have done
the same. What I want to do is to follow the advice of Paul, " … Forgetting what
is behind and straining toward what is ahead …" (Phil 3:13) Paul encourages us
to learn from the past, but not to dwell in it. Our goal is to take what we've
learned and use that knowledge to make the future better.
It's too late to save the extinct flora and fauna of New Zealand, but it isn't
too late to shape a better future. We can learn from our past mistakes. We can
let God help us overcome our selfishness and our greed. We can let God work
through us to shape a future that is better than what we now have. But it has to
start with us-you, and me!
Lord, may our daily prayer be this: Reveal to us where selfishness and pride
continue to rampage in our hearts! Help us to hate our innate selfishness and
pride, and yield these to You! Strip us of ourselves so that we can have a
positive impact on the world. Bring us back in line with what you intended for
us from the beginning: Lives focused 100% on You! Only then is there any hope
for our future!
Lyn Chaffart
, Mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly
internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian
devotionals and inspirational poems,
www.scripturalnuggets.org , with Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org .
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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