March 28 Day 20
Genesis 3:19
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
REFLECTION
Halfway through our Lenten journey we return to where we started: the ashes are gone from our forehead yet our spirits are indelibly marked by the reminder of our mortality and the nature of the vessel by which we are traveling through this world. Our reality is marked by our biology, human relationships, the dangers of the physical universe, and the constraints of natural laws. Ashes and dust…temporary and impermanent.
Being uniquely created in the image of God, though, we are also constituted with an awareness of time, ability to love, creative minds, and perception of the spiritual that are all gifts breathed into us, and us alone, by God’s Spirit. The ground we walk on, the food we need to survive, and the sweat of our efforts, are realities of our mortal life…but not the point of our existence. That is why we repent of our worldly desires and broken sin nature, and turn back to God – committing ourselves to the spiritual things which make us God’s children to start with.
PRAYER: From dust you created us, Lord, and to dust we will return. Lift our eyes from the ground under our feet to the kingdom of Heaven. By the power of your Spirit, help us to place our faith in your providence, even as we continue to plow the field. Let our sweat drop to the earth that produces our bread even as our prayers rise to God who produces our new life. AMEN
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