A Verse A Day
“You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
What stirring words of honesty meet us here in the 3rd chapter of Genesis. “You are dust” literally connects us to the genesis of the created order, not just in the imaginative story of Genesis, but also in the scientific theory of the Big Bang, which spread stardust particles throughout the universe, bearing the carbon that became the resource for what we know as life. The science gives us some degree of satisfaction, that our minds are free to explore, to question, to allow the evidence to affirm or rebut our theories; while the stories offer an avenue of wonder, allowing our minds to soar to the heights and depths, then beyond.
“You are dust.” What a glorious, global, universal, multiversal connection!
Ah, but “You are dust” is also humbling. No matter our blandishments, conceits, or fame; no matter if we are influencers, superstars, on the spectrum, rich, poor, struggling, or sliver spooned; we are never more than dustlings that bear the breath of life. When we add the second piece, “to dust you shall return,” we slam up against the conundrum that has discomfited thinkers and intuitives alike – we die. We die and we decay back to the elemental dust. We may lie in a sealed tomb, a lavish pyramid, a bronze coffin fit within a concrete vault, or an urn. No matter – we die and we return to the dust, our native state.
How profound that we begin our Lenten journey with this reminder, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With such magnificent, yet humbling news, we step into this journey.
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