Living Between

By the sweat of your brow
    will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
    from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
    and to dust you will return.

Genesis 3:19 

 

I once took a counseling course called "Living Between." I admit the title intrigued me and also confused me.  Let's face it, Live Between what?   So on the first day of class, we were given a blank piece of paper with our names at the top. The Professor had lots of alphabets after his name, which meant he was highly intelligent and knew what he was going to teach us.  We all sat in reverent silence awaiting this man to share with us some sage wisdom or brilliant insight.  When he got to the podium he took a deep breath, which brought us all to the edge of our seats, and said, "Above your name on your sheet, inscribe the word 'DUST.'  On the bottom of your sheet, inscribe the word 'DUST.'"

 

I remember looking at the student sitting next to me and we both had the expression on our faces that this guy was some sort of loon!  What kind of ludicrously insane class had we signed up to experience.  The Professor was said to be quite renowned in the field of counseling and THIS is what he's come up with to teach us?

 

Then the Professor took another deep breath and said, "Now that you have begun to consider what sort of nincompoop I am, let me instruct you on what you are to do for the rest of this class period.  You have heard it said, 'You Only Live Once.' Well, dear pupils, THAT is a LIE!  You only truly DIE once! And as we know from Genesis 3:19 that we came FROM the dust only once and we will return TO the dust only once, we must decide how to live between the two points."

 

He then went on to tell us that we were to take the rest of the class time to write a list of things we want to accomplish between the two Dusts.  We spend the rest of the semester discussing and pondering how we would live between the two dusts.  One student stated that she planned to travel the world, to which the Professor began asking her questions such as:

• How, pray tell, will you eat?
• How will you purchase passage to other continents?
• How will you purchase your toiletries and replace worn out clothing?
• How will you charge your phone in the wilds?
• How will you protect yourself?

And the list of questions soon made her so befuddled, she simply quit trying to answer.  The Professor declared that such heady goals are worthy to achieve in you plan them out well in advance.  

 

He did the same with each goal we had written, then he said, "Here's what I know will happen to most of you: You'll graduate, get a job, most likely wed, start a family, and get stuck in a routine of 'get up, go to work, come home, work some more, go to bed, and repeat every day until you return to the dust.'"  

 

On the last day of class, the Professor told us that we only have the time between the two dusts, and it is up to us on how we spend that time.  He reminded us that we CHOOSE every single day whether to be kind or arrogant; caring or apathetic; encouraging or destructive.  

 

We CHOOSE each day how we will live between the dusts!  How do you choose to live between?