STOP. Right there.
Don’t move. Take a deep breath. In the nose and out the mouth… Seriously. Do it. That wasn’t good enough. Try again. We aren’t moving on til you do. In the nose, out the mouth.
Ahhhhh… Feel better? I do.
Honestly, I didn’t know if you felt “un-good” to start with… but sometimes life can get hurried. Like, a lot. Busyness isn’t really biased to one day of the week, and stress can strike at anytime. Yes, even Fridays.
So today is all about BREATHING. Stopping to chill, even if it is only for 35 seconds at your desk at work or 8 minutes while your kid takes a nap. Sometimes a little breathing is all we need.
I kind of forgot to breathe a bit this week. Well, not literally, because otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. I was so rushed, brain overflowing with things to do before red phase pick-up and departure to Kansas, homework, church work, emotions, GAH. It was choking me down. But then, God reminded me to breathe. Literally.
Thursday every week at church, we take a one hour “break” from work to breathe and listen to God. It’s called CRAVE. Some people pray/meditate, others journal, some (like I chose to this week) just SIT. Seriously. Not playing with my phone, not writing reminders of things TO DO on my hands. Just SIT. And breathe. So I did.
I started my hour time asking God to clear my cluttered brain. Then I sprawled out, facedown on the cushy pew-like chairs. I found a comfortable spot to rest my head on my arms, closed my eyes, and started to breathe. Slowly. Deeply.
For the 45 minutes, I just laid there, stretched out. There was no danger of me falling asleep, because I am terrible napper. I breathed and prayed. I breathed and relaxed. I breathed and listened. Every time the cluttery thoughts tried to show back up, I ask God to hush them up and cast them out for our alone time in the sanctuary. And he did.
When I got up and we all gathered back together for group reflection, I felt like a new woman. My head was clearer. My eyes weren’t swimming anymore. My heart rate was at a level that it was supposed to be. Amazing what breathing can do for a human huh?
Now, I like to be busy and some may ask if there really is a danger to being too busy. Well, don’t take it from me, check out Daniel 10:17 “How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” Oh snap. That’s pretty clear huh? If we are tired, distracted and overwhelmed, we lose strength and ability to talk and focus on the love and glory of God.
He commands us in Psalm 46:10 to “BE STILL… and know that I am Lord.” If we are running around, holding our breath from one activity to the other… who will we worship? I bet it won’t be The One.
It’s Friday. Take a few moments to walk away (either physically or mentally) from the hurried things in this world. If you say you don’t “Have time” then you are a prime candidate for this experiment. Stop. Don’t move… and JUST BREATHE.
Fully Oxygenated (for now,)
SGK
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” -Psalm 150:6
