“For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen 3:19)
Really???
My total physical existence is . . . dirt!
Kind of deflates the whole pride factor when you think of it
that way, doesn’t it. But let’s look at
it a little closer. What is dirt
exactly?
I know soil is a combination of sand, clay and organic material. Sand is tiny, broken down pieces of
rock. Clay is more finely broken down
pieces of rock (silt). And organic
material is, well - life gone bad.
Ahhh - so dirt is really only a transitional part of the rock
cycle.
So now comes the question of what am I going to do with this
dirty existence? I know circumstances
have a great bearing on the rock cycle.
Weathering and erosion, heat and pressure – you know, the trials and
adversity in life. Life seems to either
break me down (to sediments) or harden me up (to rocks). I can respond to adversity in the same manner
– broken down to humility (or giving up) or hardened up to a firm foundation
(or hard-heartedness).
If I am broken down to humble sediments, I can take the organic
material (the greatness of lives past) and a seed and make it grow into a
beautiful tree that produces fruit and many more seeds for others to work
with. If I am broken down to failure
sediment I will probably produce nothing but briars, thorns, and noxious weeds.
If I am hardened up to a foundational rock, I would become
part of THE rock. The only sure foundation,
which cannot fall to the weathering of adversity. (Helaman 5:12) If I am hardened up to a
hard-hearted stone, I’d most likely get in the way of a good seeds growth (a
rocky field), or be used as asphalt to pave the highway to hell. (For broad is the way that leadeth to
destruction)
And so the cycle goes.
Dirt responding or choosing the response to the circumstances life
presents itself.
You might ask, how I came upon this analogy. That’s where it gets interesting and maybe a
little confusing. It was from pondering
this address on Joseph Smith. Don’t see
the connection? I barely see it
myself. But a few points brought me to
it.
(1)
The apostolic promise or prophecy that negative
commentary regarding Joseph Smith will increase as we move toward the second
coming. NOW is the time to obtain a sure foundation. To continue the analogy, have Christ as the
foundation beneath my soil so that I can produce vegetation – rather than float
aimlessly in the air as a pollutant.
(2)
I was wondering what the advantage is for stony
people to speak ill of the prophet Joseph Smith or anyone else for that
matter. They are like hard heartened
stones in a field that cause seeds of faith to wither away (compare to the
parable of the Sower). Is there
name-calling, logic-proving, or faith-bashing done as a supposed service to the
individual or is it a personal vengeance and agenda promotion of some sort to prevent
faith from taking root.
(3)
The question of “Why does the Lord allow the
evil speaking to chase after the good?”
I’ve already learned the purposes of trials and understand the necessity
of free will, so I don’t have a problem with the whole “Why does God allow”
argument. But it was interesting to see
how it applies to our own refiner’s fire in the context of changing dust to
rock.
Just a reminder of how the rock cycle works. If Christ is the rock and he continues to get
pushed down beneath other sandy foundations – that rock will eventually melt
due to the pressure and heat. And
then -
KABOOM. Explosion, destruction,
