Breath. It’s simple. We take it for granted, until we can’t.
Try it now. Take a Deep Breath. Hold it. Exhale!
I will not discuss the techniques, but they do exist.
Clearing out the Carbon Dioxide from the lungs,
And filling them with as much Oxygen you can hold.
Why is the most important question you must ask.
For someone diving deeply without canned oxygen,
Or a kid trying to hold their breath until they get through a tunnel on a road trip.
(Did you ever play that game? Feet up over bridges,
Or, hold your belly button going by grave yards?)
The process is clear.
But learning how to do it for the right reason?
I’ve been told that great atheletes have large lungs.
Singers, so they can hold their notes and breath when they choose.
But this morning my thought is simply this:
Before you engage the moment,
Take a clearing breath, several of them,
Then take a deep breath and savor it.
The last sign of death? We breathe out our last.
The first sign of life? We inhale and cry our lungs out.
Clear out the used up, bring in the fresh.
But the used is necessary for plants.
In conjunction with the sun and carbon dixode,
Plants produce Oxygen. Think Photosynthesis.
Simplistic? Sure. It’s very complicated to understand.
We are made to help bring life,
By exhaling one thing, we inhale the off-giving oxygen.
We exist in parallel and symbiotic need.
Think about this the next time you breathe.
Inhale the exhalation of plants.
Exhale the inhalation of plants.
Ready? Take a deep breath, now, let it go.
While thinking through this thought, a scripture story came to mind.
In Ezekiel 36, God tells the prophet of the rebuilding of Israel in clear and concise statements.
For I will take you from among the nations, …
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, …
Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers;
you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.
I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.
And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
Ezekiel 36:24-30 NKJV
But then, the Lord takes the prophet to a valley. In its midst, everywhere he looked, all he saw were dry bones. “Son of man, can these bones live?” God? You know. “Prophesy to these bones: O Dry Bones, hear the word of the Lord!”
As the prophet obeyed, there was a rattling and the bones reassembled themselves, and sinews grew, and flesh returned, and the skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.
Notice this… The bodies were still dead. No breath, but complete in form. There must have been blood, although it’s not mentioned. Why blood? This is what carries oxygen (life) to the body!
What they need now was life giving breath. In the Garden, God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
The Lord tells the prophet, “Prophesy to the breath…”Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.””
So I prophesied as He commanded me,
and breath came into them,
and they lived,
and stood upon their feet,
an exceedingly great army.
Ezekiel 37:10 NKJV
This brings me to my thought this morning…
We take our breath for granted. But we were made to give praise to God, and to live for Him where he has planted us. If your pastor, or the Word, or the Holy Spirit has ever spoken to you, receive it as a prophesied command, “Breathe! Inhale! Exhale! Again!” Take in that life giving compound, but don’t think your exhale is wasted. It has purpose.
Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!
(Below, you may find other topics similar to this one. Please read on!)