You are dust, and to dust you shall return.

These words are anything but comforting. And what’s worse and that they came from the mouth of God, which makes it sting even more.

What’d you just call me? Dust? While not addressed directly to us—the entirety of humanity—in the context of the scriptural passage, God’s words nonetheless apply to all of us. God speaks these words to Adam in the third chapter of Genesis after Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (quite a mouthful, isn’t it?).

Having first spoken to Eve, God then turns to Adam and says:

By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19 | New Revised Standard Version

You are dust, and to dust you shall return. In this profound statement, which would likely have shaken both Adam and Eve at their core, God deprives them from the immortality that was once inherent to their nature as humans. For it was before their transgression against God that humanity did not know the difference between good and evil, nor did they know life from death.

I’ll note here that if you want a clear and systematic deconstruction of the Genesis story that rightfully decries interpretations which have wrongfully blamed Eve for the “fall” and have approached the creation accounts as literalistic and scientific, I recommend Elane Pagel’s book Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. May we denounce misogyny, fundamentalism, bigotry, and ignorance wherever it is present.

Returning to the verse at hand, God’s declaration that all humans “are dust” is ultimately a reminder that we are not immortal—that our lives will eventually meet their end in death. We are only on this earth for so long, and we will eventually return to the earth from which we were birthed from.

It is a reminder as sobering as memento mori, “Remember you will die.” Likewise, God calls us to remember this reality and inevitability. Yet, God does not do so to guilt-trip or admonish us. On the contrary, God calls us to appreciate the time we do have and use it to the best of our ability, living lives grounded in love. The God who loves and, according to John in the first of his letters, is Love itself, calls us to embrace and be moved by love (1 John 4:7-21). Love, in its purest form, is selfless. In line with Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel, we are to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves (Matthew 22:35-40).

In light of this, we are not to damn the limited time we have on this earth, but to love it and embody love with every waking hour we have. To use another Latin phrase, carpe diem, “Seize the day.” Grasp today by the talons and dare to embody love in a world that is ever in need of it.

Look out of your window, gazing out at your neighborhood, being grateful for the opportunity to care for others as you also seek to care for yourself. Take a walk in the park and give thanks for the earth which serves a the playground for love. Walk up to receive your ashes this Wednesday, and, in hearing those words “You are dust, and to dust you shall return,” respond with an “Amen” that does not then lead you to turn around and look lowly on yourself, but to turn and be sent out into the world to embody Love in the name of the God who is Love itself.