Sunday, December 13, 2015

Holy Breath

(en.wikipedia.org)
Breath. Whether our first or our last: beautiful!

I wonder how it feels to be the doctor that delivers babies for a living; how it feels to be the first to hold a child leaving the safety of their mother’s womb – as they draw their very first breath.

Holding a newborn just minutes later is so incredibly awe-inspiring and emotionally overwhelming!  Snuggling that same child a week or a month or a year later is, to me, invigorating and life affirming.

I wonder how it feels to be the nurse who holds the hand of the sick or elderly drawing their last breaths.  That, too, must be profound, touching one’s heart and soul in countless ways.

(theguardian.com)
What about all the breaths in between? Do we cherish them, or do we take them for granted? We seldom even pay attention to our breathing unless we’re struggling to do it when we have a cold or are out in temperatures when the air feels like it’s freezing our lungs….or when we’re either so happy or so sad that we’re gasping to catch our breath.

Incredible beauty and anguishing sorrow can both seem to “take our breath away…”

It’s been shared with me that when God created Adam and breathed life into him, the word breathe translates to the word inspire. When I look up the definition of the word inspire, I read: “to fill with an animation, quickening or exalting influence.” God filled Adam, and all of us – with animation; He quickened us, bringing us to life. We respire, which means to breathe. We can only respire once God has inspired us.

As you’ve read this piece, how many breaths have you drawn? God knows, but we pay so little attention to the miracle held in each breath. We’re alive! We’re alive to glorify the giver of Life, Himself!

(angierayphotography.com)
As we draw breath during this holy holiday season, bring to mind the scene; however it looks in your own mind, of when the Christ Child first breathed our air, first cried. I don’t know if they slapped babies on the bottom back then, I’ve not seen a doctor do it these days, either, though. It was probably Joseph who held Him first; we hear no mention of a midwife showing up in the stable. The giver of Life draws breath among us for the first time!

And recall his last, as He called out to our Father, “It is finished.”

(erniearagonjr.wordpress.com)
And think to cherish each breath He drew as He walked on earth in flesh, like we do – leading to the day He’d sacrifice that life for ours; so that we can live with Him eternally in perfect peace.

Each breath is a reminder of the peace that can fill our lives as air fills our lungs – when we let Jesus reign in our hearts!

Hallelujah!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth.” – John 1:1-4, 14 (KJV)
















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