APRIL 22, 2013
Dust
Art
Read: Genesis 2:1-7
The Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being. —Genesis 2:7
When
God chose dust as His artistic medium to create Adam (Gen. 2:7), He
didn’t have
to worry about running out of material. According to Hannah Holmes,
author of The Secret
Life of Dust, “Between 1 and 3
billion tons of desert dust fly
up into the sky annually. One billion tons
would fill 14 million boxcars in a train
that would wrap six times around the
Earth’s equator.”
No
one has to buy dust, for we all have more than we want. I ignore it as long
as
I can in my house. My reasoning is this: If I don’t disturb it, it’s not as
noticeable.
But eventually it accumulates to the point that I can no longer
pretend it’s not there.
So I haul out my cleaning supplies and start removing
it from wherever it has
found a resting place.
As
I remove the dust, I see myself reflected in the smooth surface. Then I see
another thing: I see that God took something worthless, dust, and made it into
something priceless—you and me and every other person (Gen. 2:7).
The
fact that God used dust to create humans makes me think twice about labeling
someone or something worthless. Perhaps the very thing that I want to get rid
of
—a person or problem that annoys me—is the artistic medium God has given to
display His glory.
Lord, too often I want to quickly ignore
or dismiss difficult people and circumstances.
Help me to be open to learn from
You through them and to see Your glory.
Being all fashioned of the self-same dust, let us be merciful as
well as just.
—Longfellow
Source: Our Daily Bread 2013
