Beloved Dust

The minimal amount of raid in the Northeast has left the earth dry and dusty. The green grass of spring has burned brown, and once luxuriant lawns have become mini deserts. Pulling weeds nad having the dust just fall off them without even having to shake them bears witness to the depth of this year's dust. Yet, with water, these same independent particles of earth bond to each other and can even become pesty mud where there is too much water. Plants drink abundantly through their root systems enabling leaves and flowers to flourish.
We are reminded on Ash Wednesday that we are dust and to dust we shall return. This comes to mind as I deal with my dry garden beds and see plants struggling to find nourishment from the meager water the hose provides. So too do we struggle or flourish depending on how we look at our dustiness, our human condition. If we see our lives in the eyes of God who is rich in mercy and abounding in love, then our dust finds its needed nourishment and we grow splendiforously. The optimism of the Psalmist can be ours: "In the morning, fill us with yourlove;/ we shall exult and rejoice all our days." (Ps 90:14). The water of love gives us life and enables us wather the soil of our neighbors and be their nourishment too, as do the particles of wet dust that surround the roots of the plant. Indeed, we are dust, but watered by our loving God, we are beloved dust.