Mining for Dust: A Poem for Ash Wednesday

Gold is now selling for $1441.00 per ounce. I thought of this as we step into Lent with ashes placed on our foreheads as we hear the words, "From dust you came and to dust you shall return...repent and believe the good news." I offer you this poem for Ash Wednesday....
jody


Mining For Dust
A Poem for Ash Wednesday

Our hands reach toward
a shinny past hoping
to strike it rich
So we strain through the
dirt of our lives
to mine it for
a gold that
often eludes us

But the maker of it all
mines not for the
glitter of our world
Our God mines for dust
and through those
ancient hands there
is a sifting
for what is precious

As the earth makes gold
and we long for
its lofty worth
So the God who formed
the earth and its riches
cares not for the gold
but loves infinitely
the dust

The dust is God’s gold
for into it the divine
breathed life’s breath
And those old hands
shaped us into living beings
whose value is
much beyond
shimmering nuggets

And to sanctify it all
the old miner
of all Creation
Sent the child of Bethlehem
to sift through
the rubble
and be dust
himself

Standing knee-deep
in the running waters
of an ever-flowing stream
God Almighty reached
into the earth
and pulled from it
the dust
now gold

“From dust you came
and to dust
you shall return”
Are the customary words-
But when spoken by
God
they really say,
“The dust is my gold”

Jody/Ash Wednesday/2011