At the Heart of a Star

Mark Sandlin offers us two thoughts that should be written on our hearts at all times:

You are dust; to dust you shall return.
You are stardust; there is a universe of potential within you.

What a wonderful thought to begin our forty days of Lent. Yes, it is true, as we read in the book of Genesis (3:19), “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We are also reminded that Job repented “in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6)

But as we look at ourselves introspectively during the Lenten journey, it is good news to know that we are not only dust, we are stardust.

Consider this quote from physics.org: “We are all made of stardust. It sounds like a line from a poem, but there is some solid science behind this statement too: almost every element on Earth was formed at the heart of a star.”

Inside of us, making us who we are, is a tiny part of the universe. It’s science. It’s physics. But it’s also just a little speck of divine mystery. Perhaps it is a part of what is special about us.

It is no small miracle that we were formed “at the heart of a star.” What a mystery is God’s vast creation. God created us out of great love. But if this small part of God’s creation can be explained by physics, it is no less a miracle.

We are dust, and to dust we shall return. We are God’s, and to God we shall return. And I want to believe, too, that a bit of stardust makes me who I am.

May you live these Lenten days in the warm embrace of God. May you hear God calling you to come apart from daily routine and rest a while in a quiet place so that your spirit might be lit with Resurrection light.