You should have seen their faces.   

Years ago, during lunch with several of my business peers, I confessed to doing something I had never done before…I made dirt.  Eyebrows raised, glances exchanged, finally, one of the managers remarked, “Isn’t that God’s job?”

Well, it used to be, I reasoned.  I explained my wife’s current fascination with a concept called square-foot gardening.   Building 2×4 boxes and filing them with this “man-made” dirt provided an environment guaranteed to yield a cornucopia of vegetables.

“So exactly how do you make dirt?” was the next question.  I explained in minute I-know-what-I’m-doing detail how you mix equal amounts of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite.  Now, it couldn’t be just any compost.  Per “The Book,” I needed five different kinds of compost to achieve the best mix of nutrients.  The vermiculite is, well, I am not exactly sure what it does other than to add volume with little increase in weight.

The fun part was in mixing this recipe up.  By spreading a large tarp on the ground and placing the ingredients on it, all you had to do was pull the ends of the tarp back and forth in alternating directions, and the dirt mixed itself.  Easier said than done when you are mixing several hundred pounds of ingredients. The result was a white-speckled brown mixture that was extremely easy to shovel — thanks to the vermiculite.  What a sight we must have been that summer evening, pulling a large tarp filled with “dirt” back and forth, reveling in its rich and earthy aroma. 

Once sufficiently mixed, Shazam, we had dirt!  

This past week, I encountered a joke that brought this 17-year-old memory back to mind.

God was approached by a scientist: “Listen God, we’ve decided we don’t need you anymore. These days we can clone people, transplant organs and do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous.”

God replied, “Don’t need me? How about we put your theory to the test. Why don’t we see who can make a human being, say, a male human being.”

The scientist agrees, so God declares they should do it like He did when He created Adam.

“Fine!” says the scientist as he bends down to scoop up a handful of dirt.”

“Whoa!” says God. “Not so fast. You get your own dirt.”

I laughed when I read the joke and humbly admitted to the arrogance and audacity of my one-time pride in making dirt.  Only God makes dirt.  Sure, I used a mixture of God-given ingredients to enhance a vegetable garden.  However, blending the soil mixture and regular watering was more about managing a process than an original creative act.

It got me thinking.  How often do I take credit for things when the credit belongs to the Almighty?  Even when I am writing a blog post, painting a picture, or preparing a vegetable garden, what am I doing but reflecting the creative nature of God?  Isn’t that what Imago Dei means, in part, that mankind is created in the image of God?

Then I remembered the prayer our family recites before each meal time.  

“Bless us, O’Lord, 

for these Thy gifts 

which we are about to receive from thy bounty

 through Christ our Lord.  

Amen.”  

Did you catch the part about “from thy bounty”?

Saying such a blessing before a meal is a simple, albeit subtle, way of also saying we don’t make our own dirt.