Breath

Musing on the obvious lately, I saw a question posted on twitter that caught my attention. A fellow tweeter asked, "What is the opposite of breath?"

Most obvious answer: Death. Which got me thinking about the nature of life. Without breath there is no life. I take for granted this constant in and out huffing I do without thinking. But it is this small thing that is everything in keeping the machinery of life working. It is not only the evidence of life but the sustainer of life.

Breath is also another word for spirit (or Spirit). And there is inspiration, which literally means to "fill with life" or "breathe life into."

Body and soul are connected through breath, as is evidenced by those days when I'm so busy or self-absorbed that I forget to breathe deeply. By the end of such a day, I feel a deadening weight, not merely depression, but a loss of spirit, a lessening of life.

Reminds me in an almost too obvious way of the Michael W. Smith song, Breathe:

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I... I'm desperate for you
And I... I'm I'm lost without you


Such simple yet vulnerable lyrics, they touch my heart every time I hear them. Desperate, lost... dead without his holy presence living in me, the one that is my air and bread. Such an awareness of my desperate state, this is what brings me to my knees in worship. And it is what lifts me to my feet to try again (after falling, after forgetting to breathe) to live a life of worship.

This is the air I breathe.