Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return

For as long as I can remember, I've heard the exact same phrase on Ash Wednesday when it comes to the imposition of ashes. The pastor would either mark your forehead or your hand with ashes in the shape of the cross and say "Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return." It's a really heavy statement when you think about it.

At the end of this life, we will return to being dust either by cremation or our bodies decomposing. However, we don't really think about our bodies being dust in our current state. It's weird to think of our bodies in that way. I don't know about you but I tend to think of myself as someone who's pretty healthy minus a few aches and pains every now and again. I think of the physical flesh that's on my bones. I don't think of myself as the matter that is currently covering the sofa table in my apartment. The dust that we find around our homes, offices, and the places that we visit is made up  in part from our dead skin cells. This thought led me to thinking about how we get rid of the dust we find in our homes. We simply wipe it away or do something to remove it in a fairly simple motion. Then we forget about the dust that we removed and move on with our day.

Sometimes, I think we forget the fragile nature of human life. A life can end literally at any second. We're not as unbeatable as we really think we are. We're simple and basic.

It's a really heavy concept as we begin Lent today. It's an important concept to hang on to through Lent though because we need to be thankful for what God has already done for us. We also need to humble ourselves and stop thinking that we can live forever.

As a side note: this all sounded so much better in my head......making a link between dust and human life. Maybe I'm overstating it. I hope you all get what I'm trying to say.