To live ecologically means learning to think and act in terms of the long run. Too many have believed the world's message: "Since we only go around once, we'd better do what feels good in the moment. Eat, buy, use and don't worry about the future." Sometimes we call it instant gratification.

My ecological awakening occurred when a speaker announced that the great commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself," applies to our neighbors not yet born. Before then, when considering how to live now, I had never had thought about future generations. To consider them is to think and act in terms of the long run.

A pastor friend of mine says that, every time he goes to his church, he pulls three weeds from the lawn or shrubs. Though he doesn't notice much of a daily difference, he says, "Think what it will look like a year from now." That's thinking for the long run and a model for recycling, planting trees or writing letters asking Congress to protect the environment.

The God who was before the mountains were brought forth and who is from everlasting to everlasting is a God of the long run. For 40 years, that God led the Israelites through the wilderness. Joseph was in jail for many years before God used him to save Egypt from famine. God has persevered for centuries, creating a people all his own.

These days we are enamored with long-range planning. I'm making a pitch for some long- range living in service of a God whom we know is in it for the long haul.