Reason #35

Adults take about 23000 breaths on average each day. Breath. A simple, second nature act. "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7) Our lives begin with a breath. For nine months, we're cooped up in a safe place and when we finally make our entrance into this big world, the first thing we naturally do is take a big, lung-filling breath. Our life on earth has now begun.

There are moments in life when we hold our breath, moments that take our breath away, and moments when the breath is knocked out of us.

Breath. It's a powerful act. It's something we don't give a second thought to... until we lose it. Scary. We depend on our breath and when it's not there, panic sets in. We fight for it. Maybe we even have to pound on our chest to get it back. We desperately hope for another simple gasp of air and pray that if we get it, we won't ever take it for grated again. Breath is precious.

Some days I feel like I'm struggling to breathe. Life throws me on my back and my breath is knocked out of me. I begin to panic. Worry sets in and I start to feel desperate. I remember that , "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4) and so I wait a minute and He gives me another breath. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out. It's a simple pattern. Okay, I've got it down. I've caught my breath and now it returns to being a simple, thoughtless, second nature act.

Some days, I breathe easy. Many thousand breaths later, the day is over and I'm ready for another one. Some days, those many thousand breaths seem as if they are taking forever to come. A simple act that should only last a second feels impossibly too long. But I breathe in and I breathe out. I keep going and I thank the Lord that he has filled my lungs with his life-giving breath. I thank him that he made it a second nature act so that it is one less thing I have to think about. I thank him that when I start to feel short of breath, I can just take a moment and breathe him in. Sometimes I simply don't have it in me to do more than just breathe, so I'm thankful that he's in my every breath. "In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:10)  

So I rest in knowing that I can sit in my Savior's hand and breathe easy. For just when I start to feel short of breath, he fills my lungs and reminds me....

Breathe in, breathe out.

Reason #35 - Breath.

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD." -Psalm 105:6




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