- From 2 Corinthians 5
The reminder that we are just ashes, gives us perspective on what should be our priorities:
- Material gain is a ridiculous goal. Beyond providing for ourselves, our families, and the needy, there is no other reason to obsess about the gathering of wealth. And envy certainly has no place in the minds of people that realize they're but dust.
- The poor have a great gift . . . your awareness of want, makes you care more for the more needy. Or . . . it should. You can always serve someone else.
- Politics, and denominationalism, make us believe we're better than others .By default, this is what it does. And that's wrong. We're all dust. No better, no worse, than anyone else. It's possible to bully even Donald Trump, and people do it all the time. He's no different than the rest of us. And the same goes for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
- Dust blows away in the wind. You're here for a little while, and then gone. We owe a great debt to those that came before, to remember them. And it takes work to remember them. In the Old Testament, and in all classical cultures, the tribal stores of long ago are always passed down. People do not feel like they belong to anything today . . . a family, more critically. And it's sad. We have forgotten, because like creatures of the world we do not have a long view of things. The eternal view looks back as well as forward, and does not get trapped in urgent, carnal hungers. Spiritual beings still regard people from long ago. We must not disrespect "dead people."
Ashes are the right perspective. They are the accurate perspective.
What you believe is so important, or urgent, isn't. Take care of the eternal by taking care of the Now. The Here and Now.
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