Sacrifice

I have had some comments about my blog from yesterday about rationing personal use of gasoline. Most have called to question the feasibility of doing that with the lack of good mass transit and especially in rural areas. And the people are right. But I would bring up why don't we have mass transit availability? It has never been a priority because we the consumer have grown easy with our "unlimited" resources and have not been concerned about the impact that our choices have made. Another comment was that we could work to improve the gas mileage of cars and SUV's. And again I would agree. But look at the flak that occurred when congress wanted to make the car industry increase the gas mileage to 25mpg. People were outraged about whether or not that was fair including the executive branch which makes their money from the oil industry. Congress was willing to give car makers until 2010-2014 to make the changes when we have the ability to do that right now.
It would mean giving up Hummers, large SUV's that currently only get 12-15mpg. Is that good stewardship? I believe that we need to take a look at our willingness to go beyond just complaining about something and actually doing something ourselves to act responsibly and be a good steward of the resources that we possess. In bible study, we are studying Leviticus. We discussed that idea of sacrifice not as obligation but as a means of coming closer to God and to God's creation. Our willingness to even be inconvienced some may have a greater ability to bring us closer to our families, ourselves, and our God. It is not so much giving up something as giving to something.