Get Your OWN Dirt

When you get right down to the bare elements that are the building blocks of life on this planet, you come to a conclusion that, for some, is hard to bear.

We can't create life without the interposition of those elements and means provided by our Father in Heaven.

Years ago, Daddy told this story:

One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him.

The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost."

God listened very patiently and kindly to His Child and after the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well, how about this, let's say we have a man making contest." To which the scientist replied, "OK, great! We have test tubes and cloning and all kinds of ways to win!"

But God then added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God just looked at him, smiled and said, "Oh, no, no, no!! You go get your OWN dirt!"

One time, Daddy used this story in a talk he was giving in sacrament meeting. A physician in the congregation was taken aback, not comprehending what he was talking about, and asked him what he intended by his remarks.

Daddy then reminded the man that we have never had a single case where a scientist in the absence of the bounty of this earth has created a speck of life from nothingness. Not much else was said after that uncomfortable reminder and the conversation drifted toward topics that were more easy to contain.

I have reflected upon that many times over the years and realized that anything from our intellectual acumen to our physical traits didn't come from us as a sudden creation from 'our own dirt'.

All that we have and are was planned and carried out from beginning to end by Him who is greater than us all. Without his interposition and care, the creation would fail. Without his shielding protection, our world, as we know it, would collapse. There would be no future, because there would be no past upon which to build.

Arrogance is an interesting quality. While we must have a spark of initiative and a willingness to step out beyond the norm to achieve in life, we are honor bound to remember that we didn't do ANYTHING without the help of our Father and others in His creation who made our path possible.

I love the notion of a 'self-made man'. It sounds so utterly delicious and so decadent. Like a rich dessert you know you shouldn't partake, but you indulge yourself anyway. But as with all indulgences, it has a price to exact. Our ego becomes our enemy as we allow that natural man to not only become an enemy to God, but to become the nightmare of eternal destruction that can destroy our opportunity to truly be all that God the Father intended.

So, I sit and think about that from time to time when I am feeling my oats and begin to think that I am "all that and a bag of chips". Thankfully, the Father hasn't removed my oxygen (though it must have been a sore trial for Him to let me keep breathing during those times!).

And I am thankful that he gave me a wise Father on the earth to share the story about keeping the ego in check. And a reminder that when I feel like I am so very wonderful all on my own to check the source of 'my dirt'.

For most assuredly, I didn't create it. And whatever measure of success I think I have achieved was not mine at all.