A Mere Breath
Last week I read this devotional that really resonated with me. It really wasn't anything major but I think it was something I needed to read the night I read it. I sometimes feel like God doesn't hear me but the message felt like God was whispering to me. (am i being dramatic lol). I felt compelled to share this so I hope it touches at least one person.
We often treat our lives as if they have a certain endurance and stability. But their fragility is revealed by our complete dependence on every single breath we take. We do not make or earn these breaths. They are God's gift of common grace, every one. Moreover, each breath is also the gift of God's own breath. In the primeval act of life-giving, God exhales the breath of life into Adam and he "became a living being" (Gen 2:7). Job also refers to the "spirit of God in my nostrils" (Job 27:3)
We are alive at this instant because God's own breath is in us. How amazing, then, that we usually pay so little attention to breathing: in and out. But if the next breath were not there, we would rapidly cease to care about anything else. The platform of our lives, seemingly solid, balances on an ever rising, reed-thin column of millions of unnoticed breaths, each of them absolutely indispensable and irreplaceable. "If God should...gather to himself his spirit and his breath all flesh would perish together and man would return to dust" (Job 34: 14-15)
In unexpected moments, may you be blessed with the sudden remembrance that God is as near to you as the last breath that you have unthinkingly drawn. Know that you hold, in your lungs, at that very moment, an infinite and priceless treasure. And then offer it back to the giver by forming your exhalation into a sacrifice of gratitude: "thank you"
The last paragraph was what really got to me. It just sounded like a reminder that God is close and the little things I take for granted because they are "the norm" mean something and I should always be grateful for them.
We get snow tomorrow but it's Friday and House of Cards premieres on Netflix so yippee. Have a lovely weekend and remain blessed!!!
We often treat our lives as if they have a certain endurance and stability. But their fragility is revealed by our complete dependence on every single breath we take. We do not make or earn these breaths. They are God's gift of common grace, every one. Moreover, each breath is also the gift of God's own breath. In the primeval act of life-giving, God exhales the breath of life into Adam and he "became a living being" (Gen 2:7). Job also refers to the "spirit of God in my nostrils" (Job 27:3)
We are alive at this instant because God's own breath is in us. How amazing, then, that we usually pay so little attention to breathing: in and out. But if the next breath were not there, we would rapidly cease to care about anything else. The platform of our lives, seemingly solid, balances on an ever rising, reed-thin column of millions of unnoticed breaths, each of them absolutely indispensable and irreplaceable. "If God should...gather to himself his spirit and his breath all flesh would perish together and man would return to dust" (Job 34: 14-15)
In unexpected moments, may you be blessed with the sudden remembrance that God is as near to you as the last breath that you have unthinkingly drawn. Know that you hold, in your lungs, at that very moment, an infinite and priceless treasure. And then offer it back to the giver by forming your exhalation into a sacrifice of gratitude: "thank you"
The last paragraph was what really got to me. It just sounded like a reminder that God is close and the little things I take for granted because they are "the norm" mean something and I should always be grateful for them.
We get snow tomorrow but it's Friday and House of Cards premieres on Netflix so yippee. Have a lovely weekend and remain blessed!!!
Comments
Thanks for sharing :)