"the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." -Genesis 2:7.
I don't know about anyone else but the dirt is one of my worst enemies. Seriously for a person with contacts and clumsiness dirt has a way of finding itself in my eyes and nose and mouth and face. It's annoying sometimes, and if anyone has ever been in Africa then you know the dirt there is some of the dirtiest. No pun intended. It's hard to get off your clothes and your feet and hands and underneath your fingernails and for me it was always on me. And me being the normal person I am wondered how in the world did God form a man from this? What every person wonders, How can God make such beautiful things from dust, from the thing that gets people dirty.
It's an interesting concept to think about. "For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust." -Psalm 103:14. We were formed from nitty gritty dirt and yet Jesus washes us clean, over and over and over again. And I think about it and I wonder why didn't God just snap His fingers and tada a man? But of course God is so awesome He gets His hand dirty... with DUST... and creates a man. A living, breathing, walking, talking man! And then from that man's rib he creates a woman. How amazing is it that our God can take nothing but dust and create something so wonderful so beautiful.
Dust. to. Dust. "All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all return." -Ecclesiastes 3:20.
This seems like a bunch of rambles but I know there is a coherent thought in here some where. I recently heard this song about how God makes beautiful things out of the dust and it just made me think hard. That God will make beautiful things out of the dust in our lives, and He will use our love and weak human efforts to build Himself a Kingdom. But just like God, we have to get our hands dirty. One of my favorite things in Uganda was the dirt. I loved the smell and the feel of it. I loved when we were filling up one of the rooms with dirt, because I smelt like it the rest of the week. It was awesome and I loved the feeling of it underneath my fingernails and the feel of it in my eye and the taste of it in my mouth. Gross right. But I was building something for God, towards His Kingdom and that was worth all the dust in my eye.
Life isn't about seeing how you can get by shining bright and clean, it's about getting a little grit in your skirt, a little dirt in the eye and underneath the fingernails, all in the name of God and building His Kingdom. The slogan for the organization I worked with this summer was "Get Dirty For God." and I have to say it fits not only my personality, but the work and the calling that God puts on lives. He doesn't call us to be Sunday Christians, He doesn't call us to be Fake Christians, who go serve somewhere for two weeks, stay in a hotel, and then go home and show all our souviners to our friends and families. He calls us to go and get dirty. To live with the people, to eat what they eat, feel what they feel, and get dirty.
You don't know the dirt is there until you get it in your eye or underneath your fingernails. And I think in our society we are blind to so much that is going on in the world, the rest of the world is like that to us. We don't know they are there until a hurricane or earthquake or famine hits them and then we want to move. But the truth is God is calling us to move now, because disaster is already there, we just have to open up our eyes long enough to let the dirt get in our eyes.
In Christ's Cleansing Love,
HIS and yours,
Cami
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