Ubiquitous dust and the pricelessness of each person

Our Daily Bread, by Julie Ackerman Link, April 22, 2013

Dust Art

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, 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.

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.

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Being all fashioned of the self-same dust, let us be merciful as well as just. Longfellow