Thanks for the quote, Brandon. Because of it, I’ve been thinking about erosion off and on all day. 

There is erosion as a natural process, with the denuding of one place balanced by deposition in another, downstream. In that case, the amount of soil, of material is constant, it’s just shifted locations. Here is the West, it’s easy to see work of wind and water on the bare rocks. It is beautiful.

But I think Monson is using a different sense of the word erosion, that is “a gradual decline of something” (WordBook app definition #3). I can see that, as we have been slacking in our stewardship responsibilities, the environments immediately around us have been declining. Our cities have areas consigned to industrial parks, since abandoned as manufacturing has declined. Our roadways are littered with junky big box stores and chains selling junky food, so what we see of the environment as we drive is the unlovely disposable convenience economy of our own making.

What Monson’s metaphor lacks is the essential connection between our spirituality and our environment. Because if we were serious about complying with eternal commands, it would be apparent in property we own and the land we love.