HAL and Dust

I have been a Word Nerd my whole life, and I am more fascinated than ever by some of the words in Genesis. At the pinnacle of Creation, we’re introduced to what many English translators call a ‘living being.’ Others use the word ‘soul.’

Lately, I’ve been focused on the adjective every English Bible uses to describe it: living. Just a few words earlier in the narrative, we see that what had been brought to life was originally dust. I don’t know what exactly dust was, or how it was possible before what is called “The Fall,” but it seems pretty clear there wasn’t much that would have seemed more lifeless.

God somehow put shape to it and, when He breathed into it, something extraordinary happened: dust came alive! I like to call it “animated dust.” 

I wonder what the first visible sign of life was. Did an eye open? Did a finger move? Did the dust’s face crack a smile?

I think of that as I make my way around Sierra View with my little Bluetooth speaker, playing a wide variety of old hymns…what I call “Songs that Stick.” I started calling the speaker HAL: Hymns Animating Life.

HAL does things I could never hope to. HAL opens eyes, gets toes tapping, puts smiles on faces, and gets lips moving to words from what are often dust-covered old songs.

There are all kinds of things about getting older that can leave us feeling “dustier” than we once were. That makes me more grateful than ever for what Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

My understanding of the Trinity tells me the same is true of the Holy Spirit, and while I don’t fully understand all that can mean for these aging bodies, it does help me see—and appreciate—the kinds of ways HAL keeps stirring signs of life around here.