In her poem “You’ve Got to Start Somewhere,” Deborah Landau writes about the “gorgeous art of breathing.” Our lives have become so hectic, spurred by technology, the media, and our cultural anxiety, that breathing has indeed become a lost art.
We are always being told to do more, worry more, and seek convenience over connection. If things can’t be done quickly, then we shouldn’t do them at all. If we aren’t juggling at least 10 different projects at once, then we aren’t truly committed and don’t really care.
Breathing challenges us by asking the question, “What is life all about?” Is it about doing and achieving simply for the sake of doing and achieving? Or is it about connecting, enjoying, listening, repairing, and being present?
By framing breathing as a gorgeous art, Landau invites us to enjoy the beauty of breathing, to practice the art of inhaling and allowing our body to be still and filled with the air that gives us life.
In the second creation story in Genesis 2 (yes, there are two creation stories in Genesis!) God takes some dirt from the ground and breathes life into it. And from that stuff of earth and breath of life, the first human is formed. In fact, the word for “breath” and “wind” in ancient Hebrew is also the word for “spirit.”
How beautiful that the breath that gives us life, the breath that formed us and made us who we are, is the breath of our Creator! What if we recognized the divinity of each breath, the sacredness of inhaling and exhaling, the presence of God with us every time we breathe in and breathe out?
I hope that you can find some time each day to engage in the gorgeous art of breathing. I invite you to still your body, be present with spirit, and fill your lungs with the breath that gives you life. The world and all of its busyness will keep turning, don’t worry. But your sacred breath is always calling to you. And it’s as easy as breathing in and breathing out.
Pastor Aaron
