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

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more