#145 - Two Pieces of Paper {Reflections Re-Release}

Two sentences can save your day, but only if you carry both. We keep reaching for a single story about ourselves, either “I’m the center of everything” or “I don’t matter at all.” Ryan offers an old rabbinic practice that refuses both extremes: put one note in your pocket that says, “For me, the whole world was created,” and another that says, “I am but dust and ashes.” 

We talk through why the first truth matters when you’re spiraling into shame, feeling invisible, or convinced you can’t get anything right. Ryan shares those oddly holy moments that feel tailor-made for one person, a sunrise nobody else notices, deer racing through a backyard, a shooting star over a quiet lake. They become a reminder of purpose, dignity, and identity in Christ: you are seen, known, and loved by God. 

Then we pivot to the second pocket, the grounding truth that keeps confidence from turning into ego. We trace the Bible’s earthy wisdom through Genesis, where humanity is formed from dirt and animated by God’s breath, and Ecclesiastes, where breath returns to God and the body returns to the ground. It’s a reflection on Christian humility, mortality, and what it means to live fully without pretending we’re invincible. 

If you want a simple daily practice for spiritual formation that brings peace, perspective, and emotional steadiness, this one is easy to start today. Subscribe, share the podcast with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us which note you need most right now: the one about being loved or the one about being dust?

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Transcript

Olivia Sets Up The Rerelease

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SPEAKER_00 0:20

Hey everyone, Olivia here. Pastor Ryan is on sabbatical this summer, so until he gets back, I will be re-releasing some of our most listened to episodes from the Reflections podcast. Today's episode originally aired in February of 2025. I won't spoil the episode, but I will say this. I was not feeling particularly creative when choosing the title. Enjoy.

The Two Pieces Of Paper

SPEAKER_01 0:44

What is up, everybody? Hey, this is Ryan, and welcome to our Reflections Podcast. I don't know what the title of this uh episode will be. Actually, Olivia, who is our communications director, she names them and she kind of names them as a way to, you know, if you were to search certain things, they'll pop up more likely on your podcast search. But if I could title this one, I would call it this would be called two pieces of paper. And here's why. The rabbis used to always recommend that everybody carries around two pieces of paper and puts them in each pocket of their pants. And on one, and you can do this, one sheet of paper, you're to write this. Write down for me, the whole world was created, and put that in one pocket. And then the other sheet of paper, you're to write out, I am but dust and ashes, and put that in your other pocket. So in one pocket, you've got one sheet of paper that says, For me, the whole world was created.

Moments That Feel Made For You

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Which is kind of true. I mean, have you ever been somewhere and you've seen a moment and you look around and there's nobody else around? Like, have you have you ever seen a sunrise? And you're the only one there, at least as far as you can see, or a sun sunset, and you look around, there's nobody else there to notice it. I remember one day I was in my house looking at my my my back window, and we have deer that run through our neighborhood all the time. I love it. And one day I'm sitting there like washing dishes or something, and like a whole bunch of deer, like seven of them, came running through my backyard at warp speed. And I was like, yo, hey, hey, guys, hey, hello. And I turned around and there was nobody there. My kids weren't there, my wife Katie wasn't there. And I was like, and by the time they came running, it was too late. They were gone. And I was like, man, you guys missed it. And no matter how I could describe it, I I couldn't do the moment justice. But I felt like in that moment, like I was that was just for me. Like I was a secret thing that I saw, and nobody else saw that moment from my vantage point there. Another time I was in Colorado, and we were it was late at night, and I was hanging up at this lake. This is I was in Colorado this past summer on the western uh slope, and I saw this beautiful, this is the first time I've ever seen a shooting star. And it's like wow, 10 o'clock at night, pitch dark, and the shooting star just rocketed across the sky. And I was like, Yay! Oh, and I was like looking around to see who else saw it, and there was nobody else around. It was incredible. Like, yeah, yeah, the universe was made just for you.

Dust, Breath, And Genesis

SPEAKER_01 3:06

But also, on the other pocket, on the other sheet of paper, you have this other piece that says on it, I am but dust and ashes. Which is true. You are dust. Scientists suggest that we're made of dust, star dust to be exact. And the Bible says as much as well. In the Adam and Eve story, it's beautiful in Genesis 2, the second creation story. God picks up dirt and breathes on it and gives it life. And so human, Adam, by the way, Adama means like human or humanity or man. Um actually could also be rendered dirt man, which I love. And so man, humanity is just dirt with breath, the breath of God in it, which is incredible. And then he says in chapter 13, you are but dust, God tells Adam, you're but dust, and to dust you shall return. I love in the book of Ecclesiastes, towards the end, it says, When we die, the body goes into the ground, the soul or the breath or the wind goes back to God where it came from, and the body goes back into the dirt where it came from. I love this image. Yeah, we're just dirt that we're here for a moment, we're here and then gone. Adam was this dirt man who got breathed into by God the divine, and so he's just but dust, and now he is dust again. And when one day when we die, when the breath leaves us, when the spirit leaves us and goes back to God who gave it, we will we will be put back into the ground, and our bodies will decompose and become food for worms.

Using The Two Truths Daily

SPEAKER_01 4:29

So on days when you wake up and you feel like, gow, I'm the biggest idiot in the whole world, and you just can't get it right, and you feel like nothing you do is good enough, and you are like, I'm just such a loser. I mean, hopefully you never have days like this, but maybe you have. On those days, yeah, pull out that one sheet of paper and read it. Yeah, for you, the whole world was created. Yeah, you you are the apple of God's eye. God sees you and knows the all the numbers of hairs on your head, and and you you he makes you you make him smile when he looks at you. There's never been a you before in the history of the world, and there you are, and for you, the whole world was created. God is deeply uh interested in you and your life and in love with you. It's this beautiful picture. And so on days when you don't feel just quite right, yeah, pull out that one, and yeah, for me, the world was created. On other days, when you feel like maybe you're getting a little bit big for your britches, and you're feeling yourself a little bit too much, and your head or your ego is getting maybe a bit overinflated, relax and pull out that other sheet of paper and remind yourself I am but dust and ashes. Here and then I'm gone, and the breath will go back to God, and my body will go into the dirt, and it'll become dust again. So, friends, today may you remember that for you the whole world was created. And may you also remember that you are but dust, and to dust you shall

Closing Blessing And Invitation

SPEAKER_01 5:52

return. Alright, love you guys. Amen. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8 30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering. Or you can check us out online at clcelkriver.org. Peace.