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Today’s Word: Dust

Steve · September 18, 2013 · 2 Comments

Made of dust. SJG photo.

According to Genesis, we’re supposed to remember that we are made of dust and to dust we will return. It’s a humbling, earthy thought, a reminder that our physical selves are little more than the stuff of earth. And according to Carl Sagan and other such trustworthy scientists, the dust we’re made of is actually stardust or “star stuff,” as Sagan once said.  Every single atom in our bodies, it seems — including the calcium in our bones, the carbon in our genes, and the iron in our blood — was created in a star “billions and billions” of years ago. We live today because stars died, and I’m cool with that. The science of the earth is a reinforcement of my faith in a Creator-God, not a deterrent.

But we’re also more than this very old stardust because we are more than the physical bodies given to us so we can walk the earth and marvel at the beauty of it all. The Psalmist says that we have been made “little less than gods” and reminds us that God is “mindful” of us. We are, in fact, more “souls with bodies” than we are “bodies with souls,” although I realize that’s a bit of a word game. As believers, we are stuck with this duality of being both animal and beloved by God. Both natural and supernatural. A being of the earth and a child of God. Dust in the wind and heir of the Creator. In faith, we can embrace the two dimensions of our being and stand in awe and worship of a God who knows our dusty selves and loves us anyway.

Ask yourself in silence: Where’s my home? Do I feel more like a soul or a body?

Spirituality, Today's Word Christian, creation, faith, Nature, Spirituality, Today's Word

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Comments

  1. Lily Lee says

    September 18, 2013 at 11:38 pm

    Beautifully written Steve, beautifully written. Much food for thought. How many of us would have thought to think we are more ‘souls with bodies’ than ‘bodies with soul’.This is really great stuff! Truly inspiring.
    Indeed ‘Dust thou art, to dust returnest
    Was not spoken of the soul”
    Cheers, Lily

  2. admin says

    September 21, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    Thanks, Lily. It’s good to remember this…

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Steve Givens is a retreat and spiritual director and a widely published writer on issues of faith and spirituality. He is also a musician, composer and singer who lives in St. Louis, Mo., with his wife, Sue. They have two grown and married children and five grandchildren.

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Recent Posts

  • We are the Leftover Fragments
  • Does Faith Leave Us Open to Change?
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