I became a bit of a plant gal after having my first son. I guess once you start nurturing a baby, it’s only natural that you nurture other living things. Our town has a beautiful indoor and outdoor plant shop, the Greene House, where I frequented with my oldest son (until he became old enough to outrun me and had the intrusive desire to touch and tamper with everything!). In the kids’ section of this plant shop, they often have gardening-based books. One that we purchased was Wuhngari Mutai Plants Trees.
This book highlights a real woman, Wuhngari, from Kenya, who traveled to the United States for her collegiate studies. Upon returning home, she discovered that outsiders with a bit of power and heavy equipment had torn down all of her village’s trees. This had consequently pushed away all animals, like the monkeys they loved, and even caused the riverbeds to dry up. Thus, women were walking for miles with their watering jugs, unable to find fresh water nearby to sustain their families.
Wuhngari gathered women in her village to help her plant new trees, and with the help of many, many African women, they planted over fifty million trees on their land, restoring the water supply and bringing back wildlife.
What Happened in Awisa, Ghana?
I thought of this story when I first read the latest about the people of Awisa, in Ghana’s cocoa belt, who have helped restore the forest by planting shade trees and protecting nearby land, then used verified climate funding to install a well and hand pump. While my son’s board book is meant to teach conservation, today’s story in Awisa reveals a deeper truth.
There is a connection between caring for creation and loving our neighbor. At the end of the day, planting new trees is a beautiful, healthy thing, but what is it for if it does not bring clean water, dignity, and well-being to families—those God says we are to call our neighbors?
How Does the Golden Rule Connect Creation Care and Neighbor-Love?
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with evangelism. I come from a fundamental background, as a Christian school kid, so I often feel that handing out tracts and standing on the corner of the street with a Honk for Jesus sign feels corny. These things certainly aren’t wrong. I just recognize that I need to get over the “embarrassing” element of some of the older methods of witnessing to others.
However, this doesn’t mean I don’t discuss my faith with strangers. I’m simply a bit more subtle. I ease into the conversations. I try to find a personal connection first. One of the easier ways I lean into this is saying, “The Golden Rule never led me wrong.” If someone thanks me for doing something subtle, whether it’s paying for a stranger’s order in the drive-thru or pausing to pick up trash someone else dropped, I can use these opportunities that others notice to point them to Jesus.
During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is quite clear that there are only two things that matter in this life: loving God with our whole hearts, and loving others as if they were ourselves:
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:9-12 (NIV)
Though basic, this is the foundation for ensuring that each action we take, whether in word, thought, or deed, promotes God’s goodness and grace.
That’s why we pay for someone else’s coffee, pick up the pile of oranges that fell out of a stranger’s grocery cart, leave the places we borrowed cleaner than how we found them, and plant trees in the local park. It’s why we donate to charities for people we will never meet, write letters to children we sponsor who certainly aren’t our biological own, and pray for faceless, nameless missionaries.
It’s because life wasn’t meant to be lived in a bubble of self-interest and self-preservation. It was meant to be lived in the goodness, grace, love, boldness, and adventure of giving of yourself to point this broken world back to its healing Creator.
Cleaning up an Airbnb, picking up oranges, and planting trees might not feel world-changing, but we were never called to change the world. Christ did that on the cross. Rather, we were simply called to live a life of love and sacrifice, and in that imperfect love and sacrifice, our kind God still grants us His heavenly fulfillment.
Why Does the Golden Rule Lead to Humble Service?
The Golden Rule feels unconventional because humans have made it a necessity to be both grandiose and grandly rewarded in their deeds. How often do we want our acts of service to be made public? If we search our hearts, how often do we volunteer or donate our money and time to uphold our reputation? Jesus warns about this in Matthew 7:1-12 (NIV):
“…The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.
The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Giving of ourselves isn’t natural to our sinful nature. If we’re going to do something that goes against our convenience, we want to be rewarded. This is what makes the Golden Rule so unconventional—it asks that we give without even considering ourselves. We give without counting our personal losses. We give when we don’t know the person who will receive our generosity.
We give, and we allow the Great Giver to heal the world.
How Can Small Acts of Faithfulness Point to Living Water?
When I consider the people of Awisa and why their village now has clean water and healthier forests, I can’t help but think of the humble practice of getting on one’s hands and knees, digging in the dirt, and planting something that has no guarantee of growing.
This is a humble act, but it’s a faithful one. In this village’s faithfulness, people are given fresh water, a promise that life can be sustained. With our gifts, are we not called to plant in faithfulness, water in hope, and trust that God will gift His beloved with His Living Water (John 4:13-14)?
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
Whether we are planting literal trees, offering quiet help, or choosing to leave a place better than we found it, we are invited to live as people who love God by loving what and whom He has made. We may not always see the fruit of our faithfulness, but we can trust the God who brings growth from every seed planted in love.
Frequently Asked Questions about Creation Care and Loving Your Neighbor
- How is creation care connected to loving your neighbor?
Creation care is connected to neighbor-love because land, water, food, health, and community well-being directly affect the people God calls us to serve. - What does the Golden Rule teach Christians about creation care?
The Golden Rule teaches Christians to consider how their choices affect others and to act with the same care, dignity, and generosity they would hope to receive. - Why does planting trees matter spiritually?
Planting trees can become a faithful act of stewardship when it protects creation, serves families, restores resources, and reflects gratitude for God’s world. - Can small acts of service really make a difference?
Yes. Small acts of obedience may seem ordinary, but God can use them to bring growth, encouragement, provision, and healing beyond what we can see. - What does 1 Corinthians 3:6 teach about faithful service?
It reminds believers that we may plant and water through faithful actions, but God is the One who brings lasting growth.
For Further Reading
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/sripfoto
Originally published August 14, 2026.
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