Skip to main content

Breath Of Fresh Air


Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
human beings that you care for them? 
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky,
 and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8)

          A breath of fresh air after an hour in a closed room among a bunch of bored or frustrated people. A breath of fresh air after being stuck inside for days, or months because of weather or health. You know what it’s like. Sometimes, nothing is better than a nice breath of fresh air. I remember when I was walking and jogging good distances, the feeling I got when I’d gone far enough. It felt as if someone had opened my lungs and unwound my shoulders. I knew that at least, I had found a sort of release. It was cathartic. It was a breath of fresh air.
           Today’s passage is a one of those. After seven psalms focused on our wrong doing or someone else’s wrong doing to us, today we get… God and the whole wide universe. After minutes, days, or years of being told or shown that we’re nothing more than animals, or star excrement or star corpse dust, suddenly, we’re just a little lower than the angels and rulers over all He has made.
         I’ve noticed something about breathing. I don’t tend to breath when I’m exerting force or when force is being exerted on me. You’re supposed to breathe when you’re going up stairs or lifting something, but I don’t seem to remember to. When I’m done, I get a breath of fresh air. I suspect the same is true when we’re facing a difficult time. There’s part of us that forgets to breathe. It might even forget how to breathe. The key is where we look for that breath of fresh air. Just as you wouldn’t want to suck air from an exhaust pipe, we need to not inhale the spiritual toxins around us. Turn your focus on God and enjoy a breath of fresh air.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more