Ashes to Ashes

The phrase "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" is often used in funerals but doesn't appear in the Bible. It comes from the funeral service in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It is based on Genesis 3:19, Genesis 18:27, Job 30:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:20. Those reference all say we are made from and return to dust. The Bible uses the word dust for the elements of the earth.

When a body decays what is left is compost and minerals. Not trying to be morbid here, those are just the facts.

How do these minerals and other nutrients get into our bodies in the first place. I'll bet you are way ahead of me here. They come from the foods we eat.

Did you know when the cell utilizes nutrients there is an ash formed from the metabolism of the nutrient. Nutritionists talk about some food being alkaline and others being acidic. It is this ash that they are talking about. So when they say limes are alkaline even tho they taste very tart and acidic, it is the ash that is alkaline. I'm getting off track a little here as I wanted to talk about soil.

Soils are formed from the weathered minerals, pyrogenic minerals, and organic matter. Let's dig a little deeper...