Near my home there is a small lake with a walk path that goes all the way around it. When my children were younger we would drive to it a few times a week and walk the path. It always felt so good to be that close to nature and the beauty of God’s creation.

One Autumn day, however, I noticed that the path wasn’t looking so good. It was full of trash that other walkers had dropped along the way. The next time the kids and I went then I took a large trash bag with us. As we walked along every few yards we would spot another piece of trash, bend down, pick it up and put it in the bag. There were candy wrappers, empty potato chip bags, bent cans of soda pop and a few beer cans as well. There were plastic bottles, old strings of fishing line, and even a single tennis shoe. We picked up every piece we saw. It took us over twice as long to get all the way around the lake but when we did we felt a sense of satisfaction that couldn’t be put into words.

Before we got back in the car I dumped the almost full trash bag into a nearby trash can. I looked back at the lake shimmering in the sun and the trees full of beautiful red and golden leaves and smiled. We hadn’t made it any more beautiful with what we did, but we had at least taken away some of the things that were making it less beautiful. It was like we had done our part and given something back to thank God again for this glorious world we live in.

In this life we are all more important than we realize. Every single thing we do can add or take away from the beauty of this world. Every single thing we do can add to the Love and joy in this life or to the fear and hate in it. We all need to choose wisely then. We need to do our part and give something back every chance we can, be it a shared smile, an act of kindness, a word of love, or even picking up a single piece of trash.