If there is one thing that it seems like we want to get rid of the most, it is dust.
Dust isn’t exactly our most prized possession, and we will do just about anything to get rid of it. Because dust is a sign of dirt. It isn’t pretty to look at it. It isn’t nice to have around.
I’m reminded of the scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves when the dwarves arrive home to their newly clean cottage and Grumpy is quick to swipe his finger across a surface to see just how clean it really is.
We don’t like dust and so we try to get rid of it. We sweep it away. We trap it in the feathers of the duster. We throw it in the garbage can. All with the hope that we will never see it again.
And yet, if we turn back to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve have eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree and the consequence of their action is clear, “from dust you have come and to dust you shall return.”
It doesn’t seem like very good news. Because perhaps if we are no more than dust, than we are simply something else to be swept away, gotten rid of, hidden from view.
But I think the seemingly harsh words of Genesis 3 offer something more.
Because before Genesis 3, as God separated the day from the night and the land from the sea. As God created birds and whales, trees and bushes. God also created human beings out of the dust of the ground. Then, God breathed life into that dust.
Life came out of the dust.
Even the dust of the ground was never a matter of chance. It was never without meaning, something simply to be swept away. Our dust was molded by the hands of God and God’s Spirit breathed life into it.
And so, perhaps, what appears as a threat, “you are dust,” is a promise. A promise that God is in it all. Because, as strange as it may seem, it is good news that we were made from dust. It is a reminder that God has not only been present from the beginning of our existence but will continue to be present through every moment that follows, all the way to our death.
The dust is the promise that we have come from God and to God we shall return.
But what’s that mean for how we live right now? Or even for how we live together?
The answer is humility. We are called to humility, which according to dictionary.com means “a modest or low view of one's own importance.”
Personally, I think that definition is way too simple. I think it is where the idea that being humble equals being a doormat has come into play. And I think humility, the humility of Jesus, the humility Paul calls us to, is far more than just a low view of self.
Instead, humility is a radical way to choose to live in this world.
Grace and peace,
Kimmy
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