I grew up in western Pennsylvania where I spent a lot of my time out enjoying nature and learning about the intricacies of nature and how every living thing meshes together. My education began probably in 1950 and continues to this day. There are several ways of looking at nature, we can enjoy it, we can try to avoid it, and we can learn from it, we can exploit or abuse it, we can be good stewards of it and we can benefit from it. Think about your attitude towards nature and how you respond to it. Which way do you look at nature?

However you choose to look at nature, it has a ripple effect on your whole life. If you want to see the ripple effect in action go out to a pond on a still quiet windless day and just stand there quietly and just observe your surroundings by just using your senses. Do this for about thirty minutes, then pick up a large stone and toss it into the center of the pond. Then watch what happens as the ripples spread out across the surface of the pond. Those ripples have some effect, and touch everything in and around that pond. If you don’t believe me, then try it for yourself. Just the act of you picking up the stone and tossing it starts the ripples, before the stone lands in the water. If you were observant as you walked to the pond you would have seen the ripple effect that was set in motion as you approached the pond’s location.

Everyday of our life with everything we do or say, we set in motion ripples that will have an effect on our environment, our own lives, and the lives of all living things around us. Most of the time we have no idea of the ripple effects that we have caused. Inaction can also set in motion the ripple effect.

A kind word to a person can have a positive ripple effect in many lives in ways that you may never observe, but each ripple sets off another ripple. One harsh word said to someone could cause a disastrous ripple effect that could touch many lives. Ripples multiply and grow in strength, they can do good or harm.

On Friday, July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado we saw the culmination of a ripple effect that as yet we don’t know what set it  in motion, we know it took the lives of twelve people, and caused the wounding of 59 people. We may never know what set this off, but the ripples didn’t stop with the arrest of the person responsible.

If you aren’t aware of what’s going on in your surroundings and the rest of the world then you better quickly become aware. Think about what kind of effect that your actions are going to have on your section of the world. What kind of ripples are you setting in motion? Are they going to be beneficial or harmful to those around you? We are all going to be judged by our actions or our being inactive. The human race is collectively known as mankind. It’s time for us to start living up to the name. How about human-kind? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the word terrorist could be lost from the human language! Read Matthew chapter 5 verse 9 in the Bible, think of the ripple effect of that one verse.