Befriending the 'smallest and slimiest' of God's creatures

I never thought that I would send out a text that read: "I miss the worms."

The text was sent to my most recent college roommate, who had just moved out, taking her little two-gallon tote of dirt and vermicomposting worms with her.

Composting in the residence halls at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, never felt like an option, but sure enough she found a way. Whenever we had eggshells or leftover fruits, or if we could not finish a salad, we fed the remains to the worms. In turn, the worms created rich soil for our beloved plants and helped us decrease our food waste.

I quickly became quite fond of the little guys. My friendship with the worms helped me reach a deeper level of appreciation for God's creatures and the way we are invited to live interconnectedly within creation, even with the smallest and slimiest of them all.

Cali Gurnicki is a senior religious studies and theology student, with an environmental science minor, at Viterbo University. She loves reading, hammocking and spending the summers working at Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya in the north woods of Wisconsin. Gurnicki was recently a member of the U.S. Climate Action Network's Faithful Climate Action Fellowship and hopes to continue educating herself on environmental issues.