Dirt

From dust you came, and to dust, you will return. 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

You've probably heard these sentiments, usually meant to help you embrace your humility. You are a creature, created by God but a creature nonetheless, and you should remember that no matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter what happens or what comes of you, at the end of the day, you're just dirt. 

Still, it seems like we spend a lot of our lives trying to put a little glitter in our dirt. Trying to always make ourselves "more." Trying to change some of the fundamental things about ourselves that we don't particularly like, or that the world doesn't like, or that we think the world doesn't like. We're always trying to change who we are. 

But...we can't. 

Not in any kind of fundamental way. 

It's true that we are dirt. Dust. Clay. God formed us just the way He wanted us. 

It's also true that God formed us out of exactly the stuff He wanted us formed from. 

Even if, even after, we've been "born again."

God sends the prophet Jeremiah to observe the potter, see how he works the clay. Watch him as he carefully forms whatever pot he is working on. Notice how he engages in his craft. 

One of the observations that Jeremiah makes is that when the clay the potter is working with goes out of shape, when it's not doing what the creator wants it to do, when a little malformation works its way into the process, the potter simply lumps all the clay back together and reworks it again, making it into what he wants. 

What Jeremiah does not observe is a potter who, when his clay goes out of shape, throws that clay out and gets new clay to start over. And any of us who have done any work with clay or know anyone who has also know this is not true - no potter just throws out the clay because it gets a little out of shape; he always simply reworks it. 

The same is true of God. He doesn't just discard the dust you're made of because you get a little out of shape. He doesn't just toss out the very fundamental things about you and start over with something else. 

No matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter what happens in your life, no matter what you try to make of yourself, no matter what forces of this world come at you, no matter how out of shape you get sometimes, no matter how much you wish it was different, you are and always have been and always be shaped from the very same dirt. The very fundamental things about you - who you are, what's in your heart, how you love, how you break, how you hope, how you grieve - these aren't going to change. This is the dirt you're made of. 

And God never just throws that out to start over. He simply keeps it, broken or malformed as it might be, and molds it into something more beautiful.