Tag Archives: love thy neighbor

What if ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ also Refers to Your Soil?

As human beings, we tend to think narrowly about what, in the book of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” He went on to say that, besides the first commandment (to love God), loving thy neighbor is the second most important commandment.

As you look out your window, past the windrow and the bare trees , over the landscape now almost barren of vegetation, perhaps you can catch a glimpse of your neighbor’s barn and house. Of course, you’ve driven by it hundreds of times every year. Maybe you’ve visited. Maybe you’ve helped out in their need, as they’ve helped out in yours. This is surely what Jesus meant about loving thy neighbor.

But what about a less conventional idea of neighbor? What if the soil is your neighbor? When you think of what makes up soil, how is it really different than you and me? We are both living, organic systems of life, hosting incalculable other forms of life that we don’t really see as us. We couldn’t exist without bacteria helping to digest food and eliminate waste, for example.

To take this argument a step further, consider this fact: Cells in our body couldn’t reproduce without the existence of mitochondria. These tiny factories inside our cells turn sugars, fats and proteins into energy. They also guard against cells staying around too long and mutating. Without mitochondria, we would not exist.

If you look closely at the hair roots of living plants, mitochondria are there too, just behind the tip of each root hair, helping transform water and soil nutrients into energy that is then transported throughout the plant for growth.

We know from our own health record, how ignoring a balanced life can cause early onset of disease and death. We know, and sometimes forget, that good nutrition, proper rest and plenty of physical work are ways to keep our bodies and minds healthy.

And so it is with the soil. For generations, we thought that deeper plowing and more inputs of fertilizer and pesticides had no consequence. We now know that, like the human body, the soil must have its own form of good nutrition, rest and exercise. Without it, the mitochondria are gone, organic matter is lost and the soil becomes lifeless.

Jesus surely knew the importance of healthy soil, just as much as he preached about a healthy soul. While he was able to make plenty from next to nothing – like the loaves and the fishes, and turning water into wine – we are not Jesus. We cannot wave a magic wand to make our soils healthy once again. But we can do it the old fashioned way, by loving your soil as yourself.