By
the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until
you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:19
“Cats
verses Dogs; which is best?” aired on the BBC over two nights, 4th
and 11th February. Using
science and experiments, Chris Packham and Liz Bonnin battled it out to
determine which animal is man’s best friend.
In fairness, the results showed the strengths of each animal in terms of
trainability, endurance performance, agility, companionability.
One
of the tests performed by Chris Packham involved a dog tracking him (Chris)
through London’s streets with thousands of other distractions. The dog, Boris, and his handler, Steve Nelson,
work for the Bolton Mountain Rescue unit near Manchester. Of course, Boris made short work of finding
Chris.
After
smelling a pillow case and a tee-shirt belonging to Chris, Boris avoided
diversions and distractions to find the coffee shop where Chris was
waiting. It had taken only ten minutes.
Steve
explained the science behind Boris being able to track so successfully. With 150 million scent receptors in his nose,
Boris is able to distinguish Chris’s unique scent. Microscopic bacteria works on the dead skin
cells that come off of the body to create a unique scent. Those skin cells are out in the environment,
blowing as fine dust.
The
other day I went to see Amy. She lives
alone and doesn’t go out much. She was
surprised by the amount of dust she vacuumed up in her flat. All I could think of was, it’s the dead skin our
bodies have sloughed off.
I
often lie in bed in the mornings, slowing waking up and pondering life. This morning I remembered the way we create
scent and dust. The scripture above came
to mind—we shall return to dust.
Then I had this wow moment. It isn’t only when we are dead and buried (or
are cremated) that we transform into dust.
We are returning to dust, even
though we are alive. Every time we wash
our face and/or hands, we are washing off the dead skin that becomes dust. When we rub our bodies with our clothing, we are
removing the particles of dead cells that become the dust on our
furniture.
In his first
letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that he dies daily. I had focused on the idea that Paul was dying
to himself, resisting his selfish nature. This in indeed a true interpretation. However, another facet of understanding has presented itself; I have learned that our bodies are always shedding dead skin cells,
even when we can’t see them. It reminds me that yes, we are dying every day.
The minute
details of our lives can fascinate us when we stop and think of how intimately
God is involved in the details.
Serving Jesus,
Author of our faith,
“Lady Helene”
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