Dust and stones and weary bones.

Some of the most frequent metaphors in scripture have to do with dust, stones, and bones –either wasted, dry bones or bones filled with marrow and reinfused with life.

From the earliest scriptures in Genesis, we acknowledge that we have been created from the dust of the earth and infused with Holy Spirit breath to create a soul.

Each one of our lives begins and ends with dust. We, as bodies made of dust, travel the long and dusty road of life until to dust we return. Our bones weaken, we become frail, and our bodies waste away.

But stone lasts forever.

Throughout the scriptures, stones are the symbols of permanence, of foundational faith, of God’s presence, of stability provided by God. In the Hebrew tradition, stones are also therefore “witnesses.”

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