TAKE A BREATH

I like to take walks, especially in the freshness of a new day. Whether I am in my home country of South Africa, or in my transplanted home of Arizona, I am blessed to be surrounded by mountains. These craggy giants provide my morning walks with a sense of awe.  I often wonder about the people, thousands of years ago, who saw these very same mountains in the morning, and were filled with peace, like I am.  

My walks are typically early, as the moon sets. The moon, my companion in both the northern and southern hemisphere, watches over me until the kaleidoscope of the sunrise takes up the guard. To me, the mountains, the moon and the sun are reminders of eternity, of all that is solid and dependable.

Our fast-paced world races around us, beckoning us to be quick, no time to waste, hurry, hurry, hurry. I have found that hurry is the enemy of my soul.

And so, in the early morning sunrise, I breathe in a new day, deeply and calmly, each breath an ode to the giver of life.

When God created mankind, he took the lifeless creature he had molded and breathed into it his very own breath and man became a living being.  His breath is our life, and our breath is his life.

As I walk in the morning among the mountains, my breath comes quicker and harder and I suck in the life of God. When I am anxious, my breath is shallow, in my chest, but when I remember to be anxious for nothing, but in prayer give everything to God who gives everything to me, my breath slows down and comes from deep within where God lives.  My body is his temple, and my breath is evidence of his life at work in me. 

As you live this day, I urge you to slow down for a while and breathe. With every breath, be reminded of the closeness of your creator. His life is before you and behind you, it is beside you and within you. The life-giving air that you breathe is filled with the Holy God, the Holy Mighty, the Holy Immortal.

Take a breath full of God and be at peace.

“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” – Job 33:4

May we think on these things!