Word of the Week: Breathe

Or perhaps it should be words of the week: "just breathe!" That's what I'm doing tonight, or starting to anyways, after not being able to OPEN my laptop since Tuesday night! Wow, that was a weird feeling of withdrawal. Even though I've begun shutting my laptop down one night a week and leaving it off for about 36 hours, that's a planned thing. Vastly different from staring at a locked-up-tighter-than-a-drum laptop!

All my husband's years of school paid off tonight though; he had it apart and open in about three hours and I'm breathing regularly again.

Seriously though, I am learning the value of stopping to breathe deeply throughout my day. It's sad that we as believers have allowed the very essence of life - breath - imparted to us by God, to become a scary word. We've kind of relinquished it to the rest of the world - the marketplace, exercise gurus and worshippers of every other god but ours.

Think about it. When God breathed the breath of life into his creation, it was intentional. Unlike the shallow breathing that gets us through most of our day, or the gasping for breath we might do because we're out of shape, deep breathing has to be intentional. It comes with a pause of sorts. It settles you down. Helps you focus. I am finding my prayer time much enriched when I take a moment to breathe deeply and clear my head and heart of cluttering thoughts. A deep breath in the middle of a stressful day beats crawling under my desk!

When's the last time you stopped to breathe deeply? Why not try it? Step outside and smell the fragrance of the rain or the falling leaves. Pause to marvel at the innocence of your children. Let a moment etch itself in your memory. Claim it for yourself again, this marvelous gift of God. Just breathe.