Thursday, February 02, 2006

True Spirituality is . . . Messy (2)

Humans are made of dirt. We were shaped out of the dust of the ground and stamped with the image of Almighty God. We are vessels of dirt made to hold glory. Learning to live as image-bearers is messy business because we’re so frighteningly earthy. What this means is that all the things that make up the “mundaneness” of our existence (going to the bathroom, sleeping, eating, bathing, driving, loving, working, shopping, etc.) – all the things that make up our existence – is the context in which we engage God, not in the sanitized, spiritual activities.

It is helpful along these lines to see our lives as soil (Jesus used this metaphor - see Mark 4), and the life of God as the seed in that soil. We too easily forget though that what makes soil fertile is usually manure mixed with decayed matter (death). But it is decay and manure that we religious humans are so quick to deny and ignore. But in reality it is what makes us so ripe for God.

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