Breath of Life

I don’t know how to capture even a glimpse of all that I have been sensing and thinking about breathing this month. I have searched the scriptures, sought God’s face, and discovered some of what He has to teach me through the contemplation of this simple thing called breathing. It is not a deliberate act at all, but a process that goes on with or without my attention to it. When we do pay attention, He can bring us to a place of peace and resting and trust that is very profound.

What other process that goes on in our body can we become so consciously aware of if we choose? We rely on our heart beating to survive, but we can barely feel our heartbeat or alter it's rhythm if we try. We rely on a host of other processes, but we cannot be aware of them as we can the breath. The breath is both autonomic, automatic, and yet somewhat within our control. We can hold our breath, breathe deep or shallow when we are relaxed or anxious. We cannot do these things with our heartbeat, or digestion, or anything else. And yet this breathing goes on and on without our attention as well. We cannot stop it, and we did not start it. It is intimately tied to our thinking and feeling, which we also can influence or control to some extent, and yet cannot ever completely control either.

When I do pay attention to my breathing, I find that a peace comes over my heart and mind which I cannot fully explain. I read this verse: Romans 8:6, "the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace", and I see that the word breath and the word spirit are not distinguishable in the original language: Pneuma. In some mysterious way I have to say that when I set my mind on my breathing, I do experience life and peace. I know also that I have experienced the mind set on the flesh, and especially on pain in the body and worry, fear and anger in the soul, as death. I am by no means saying that breathing is all there is to the spirit, but I am suggesting that our physical act of breathing which brings life to the body is inextricably linked to the spirit of life that God imparts. this can be seen throughout scripture again and again.
 

Job 33:4

[It is] the Spirit of God that made me [which has stirred me up], and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life [which inspires me].

I believe that on some level it really is far more simple than I could ask or imagine. Spirit really is breath. This spirit that He has imparted to me  really is as close and “tangible” and real as my breathing. I know that we set our minds on that which is unseen, but that is just it. Breath is unseen, as is wind, as is air, and yet it, or perhaps rather He, this Spirit of God, sustains all life on our planet.

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
(Jesus speaking to Nicodemus: John 3:8)

Is there more to God and me than this movement of gasses in and out of my lungs, or across the miles of atmosphere? Of course there is. For one, there is fire, and light, and energy in a dimension beyond this physical one that I behold, beyond all of this there is A Person. But perhaps breath is a sign of the hem of His garment that fills the temple of this body here on earth.

When Jesus breathed on the disciples during his first moment back with them after being resurrected, He said, "receive the Holy Spirit." Just as He did in the beginning with Adam, He breathed on them, into them, and they became alive in a way that they had never known before. Maybe this was life as Adam and Eve lived it before they fell, or maybe it is life as we had never seen it before, Zoe life in God’s Spirit. I don’t understand, but I do stand in awe of what He has done.

So now, when I breathe, and become aware of my breath throughout the day, either in a quiet moment of meditation, in a moment of conversation with a friend, or while I’m huffing and puffing up a hill on my bicycle, I have a new sense of being connected to Jesus in this breath. I have a new sense of my dependence of Him, of resting in Him, with each and every breath.

What is my spirit but this awareness that lies at peace beneath all my thoughts and feelings, resting in Christ? What is this awareness but the consciousness that He brings to light by the power of His Breath as He imparts life to me. To be aware like this is to be gently loved and held by the Spirit Himself. To be aware like this is to come to my center in being breathed by Him, and to know that all is well because no matter what happens to this body, and this soul (that which breathes), the Spirit is the author of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. 

Even though one day this body will rest in peace beneath the dirt, the breath will go on because I am one with Him who breathes all things into existence. Now that is real rest. So take a deep breath, and know that you are loved into existence by One who holds you in the palm of His almighty hand, who breathes with you in each breath. And know that even after you take your last breath, He will remain with you, holding onto you into another kingdom that has no end.

read a meditation for breathing