Mortality, divine breath and what it means to be alive

I am made of ordinary things.

The earth beneath my feet
holds the same elements
that run through me.

Dust carrying thought.
Flesh carrying memory.
A heart counting quietly
towards its final beat.

And yet,

there is something strange
about being human.

Dust should not wonder
why it exists.

Dust should not grieve,
or love,
or look towards heaven
and ask what lies beyond it.

But I do.

Perhaps because
I was never dust alone.

Before I spoke,
before I remembered,
before I knew
there was a God to seek,

He breathed.

And earth became life.

So when I am tempted
to believe that I am nothing more
than what can be touched,
measured,
weighed
and buried,

I remember my beginning.

I am dust.

But dust
that God breathed into.

Inspired Version Scripture

Genesis 2:8

And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul; the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also;

Behind the Poem

Scripture never denies our physical nature. Man is formed from the dust of the earth, yet the account does not end there. God breathes into what He has formed, and man becomes a living soul. Our mortality should humble us, but it need not reduce us. Human life begins with both earth and divine breath, reminding us that our physical existence does not tell the whole story of what we are.

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