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