Mud

Oh, the joy of squishing your toes in the mud! That's Norah's toes in the photo. Pat had taken her to Glory's back yard to play in the little wading pool. Soon Norah was filling a little cup full of water and pouring it on the ground to make mud so she could step in it.

The business of children is to have fun. The trick is to let them have fun in the right way and the right place. Not long ago Norah began showing us how she had learned to 'spit.' Every new skill is an adventure. We congratulated her, but told her not to spit on anyone, and not to spit in the house. Well, she's a two-yr-old, for goodness sakes. You might as well be talking to a wall.

One day when she was being a little rambuctuous I picked her up and said, "How would you like to go outside and spit?" Oh, that excited her. So we went out to the deck and leaned over the railing and spit as hard as we could for about five minutes.

It's too bad adults have lost the ability to enjoy squishing their toes in mud. Getting down and dirty is part of life. It's a shame when we get so obsessed with cleanliness and purity that we miss out on some of the pleasures of life. A certain amount of cleanness is good. But we are made of dirt. To dirt we will return. Maybe that's why we are afraid of dirt: it reminds us of our destiny, our mortality.

In Christian baptism we get splashed or dunked. Washing seems to be a ritual in all religions. Long ago it may have had hygienic purposes. We Christians talk about being cleansed from sin, not by water, but by the blood of Jesus. Now that's a strange idea. Doesn't blood stain? But our religious metaphors say things that can't be said in any other way. By 'blood' we mean the power of life. God's life given to us in love, gives us life. The dirt--the mortality--is not taken away. But the dirt is given meaning. Squishing our toes in the mud may remind us that we are not God. We are humans--made from humus; which invites humility.