From Dust, We Live
An Ash Wednesday Reflection
Actions have consequences.
Fear isolates, separates— an attempt to save yourself by grasping for fruit that looked good to the eyes.
Trying to save ourselves, we died. From dust we came; to dust we returned. Dying, we died.
But You, God, are in the business of creating life out of dead things.
From dust You formed and fashioned humanity— Your desire was always to be with us, to dwell with us, to dwell amongst us in temporary tents and temples.
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
Though we die, we live— if You live in us, with us.
Like Enoch, who walked with God and was no more, if we walk with You— me and You, and You and me— then though sin has consequences, and in dying we die, yet dying, I will live.
No longer grasping for fruit that is forbidden, but slowly, surely, producing through abiding fruit that remains:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, righteousness, and self-control.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I especially like the shift from grasping for fruit to abiding into fruit; that movement from self-preservation to communion feels deeply Ash Wednesday. The closing echo of “Taste and see” brings it back to invitation rather than warning. I’ve been writing about something similar — how death, dust, and abiding intersect in the present moment — here: https://theeternalnowmm.substack.com/p/eternal-love?r=71z4jh