This is British Landscape artist Mark Preston's painting titled: Breezy Day. The flowering tree, swayed in the stiff breeze, suggests early spring, but if that's purple heather in bloom, it could be June or July. Perhaps the artist couldn't make up his mind which season he likes best, so he combined the two. Small matter. For our purposes it's the alive air at the top of the hill and the invitation to breathe deeply!
We were made for breathing: "Then God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being." Genesis 2:7. Not only have we been made for breathing, but breathing is a sacred thing. God's own life is in our breathing.
And then there is the breath of the Easter Jesus carrying our second birth, sharing heavenly life: "After saying this he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit..." John 20:22
Maybe Spring, with its opened windows and outside walks, invites us to consider the gift of breathing. Lots of people don't breathe well for a number of reasons: perhaps they are out of shape or suffer from asthma or emphysema. Maybe their lungs have been weakened from smoking.
Or we don't breathe well because we're always running around. "I'm totally out of breath," the frenzied person complains. So much running around makes for shallow, unconscious breathing.
But also, when we're running around all the time, we've left the present moment and are in the past, mulling over yesterday and its fear, anger, panic and disappointment. Or we're in the imagined future, worrying, stressed, managing and overwhelmed.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who invites us to sit each day for twenty minutes of deep and conscious breathing. Many people will immediately say, "That's impossible! Who has twenty minutes!? Only monks have the luxury of twenty minutes." Maybe that's the point he's making - it's a problem for first world people. Anyway, we do what we can. So maybe stop for ten minutes - five minutes. Just sit, attentive to God's first gift - breath.
In this conscious breath, I receive God's gift of life.
In this breath, I am nowhere else.
In this breath, I am here in this single moment.
In this breath, I am right where I am supposed to be.
In this breath, I inhale all that is good.
In this breath, I exhale negativity.
In this conscious breath, I inhale the renewing Holy Spirit.
And then there is the breath of the Easter Jesus carrying our second birth, sharing heavenly life: "After saying this he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit..." John 20:22
Maybe Spring, with its opened windows and outside walks, invites us to consider the gift of breathing. Lots of people don't breathe well for a number of reasons: perhaps they are out of shape or suffer from asthma or emphysema. Maybe their lungs have been weakened from smoking.
Or we don't breathe well because we're always running around. "I'm totally out of breath," the frenzied person complains. So much running around makes for shallow, unconscious breathing.
But also, when we're running around all the time, we've left the present moment and are in the past, mulling over yesterday and its fear, anger, panic and disappointment. Or we're in the imagined future, worrying, stressed, managing and overwhelmed.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who invites us to sit each day for twenty minutes of deep and conscious breathing. Many people will immediately say, "That's impossible! Who has twenty minutes!? Only monks have the luxury of twenty minutes." Maybe that's the point he's making - it's a problem for first world people. Anyway, we do what we can. So maybe stop for ten minutes - five minutes. Just sit, attentive to God's first gift - breath.
In this conscious breath, I receive God's gift of life.
In this breath, I am nowhere else.
In this breath, I am here in this single moment.
In this breath, I am right where I am supposed to be.
In this breath, I inhale all that is good.
In this breath, I exhale negativity.
In this conscious breath, I inhale the renewing Holy Spirit.
