Ash Wednesday (March 2014)

“Remember, you are dust,
        and to dust you will return.”

I wonder, Lord, how my life
        might change if I remembered?
What would I care about less?
        What would be more important?
Which to-do lists become ashes?
        Which would I finally do?

When we are young,
        we can’t see the dust.
We are indestructible,
        and we own the world.
The marathon runner,
        at the first mile marker;
the flower emerging from soil
        at the beginning of spring.

When we grow older,
        dust is all we can remember.
We see the dust devil coming,
        chasing us down the path.
The marathon runner
        at the twenty-fifth mile;
a flower past summer’s glory:
        dry, bent, discolored petals.

Between dust becoming
        and dust returning,
what does this reminder
        insist of me today?

More tolerance of others,
        made only of dust.
Less anger and animosity,
        for dust just passing by.
Awe and love for dust
        shaped into the image of God.
Adoration for a Christ
        who took on dust.

“Remember, you are dust,
        and to dust you will return.”

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