It's easy to become discouraged when considering the ways that we've affected our planet.

Often I envy the people of the past who were surrounded and living in the raw, wild beauty of nature, free of mankind's permanent influence. I am very deeply sorrowed at the fact that I will never in my lifetime see Earth in that state, one in which wild animals that are presently facing extinction roam the earth freely. Never will I, nor anyone, see the vast populations of trees and wildlife that once inhabited the lands of fallen rainforests and crowded cities.

We are racing more and more quickly to a polluted ocean decorated by the skeletons of once-flourishing coral reefs. Nothing will be able to restore our earth to its young, natural state, and nothing will be able to reverse the damage that is being done now and that will continue to be forced upon our planet.

Knowing this breaks my heart. I am a strong believer that the planet is God's gift to us. I also believe that, in many ways, we have not been good stewards or protectors of that gift. When facing the overwhelmingly daunting task of saving our planet, it is easy to become filled with hopelessness and dread, and it's easy for outlooks to be depressed by this mindset. I once had no hope, as all I could do was yearn for the things of the far past, for things that will never return.

But my hope has been restored, placed in something else, something greater than myself.

One day the Lord directed me to Isaiah 65. Verses 17-25 stood out to me, shaking my world and completely reshaping my vision of the future:

17 "See, I will createnew heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice foreverin what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delightand its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20 "Never again will there be in itan infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundredwill be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoythe work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroyon all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

It is within these verses that a beautiful picture is painted of the New Heavens and New Earth that we get to live in, that the Lord will create for us to enjoy. This New Earth will be so much more beautiful than what we experience now that we won't even want to remember the things of old, the things right now (verse 17). That blows my mind.

Kyra Holmes

My soul now longs for the things that the Lord promises to give us, and I turn to this passage in times of desperation and sorrow when I think about our dying planet. I'm incredibly thankful that the Lord has promised this New Earth to us, along with the animals that will inhabit it.

My favorite verse in this passage is verse 25 — guys, there will be animals (even snakes!!!) in heaven that we will get to live with and among. I'm SO EXCITED. I consider this my new hope, my greater hope for a future that is natural and beautiful and raw and untouched and wild, perfectly and intentionally designed by God.