Just Breathe

29 Degrees Fahrenheit and windy was the official weather blurb from Wunderground.com for Tuesday morning, but I had already had it set in my mind to run a mile.  Just last week, while out doing some shopping, I picked up a "Balaclava" for such a time as this, so off I went into the cold.  Running with something covering the mouth is uncomfortable.  I felt like I had to force in every breath to assure myself that i was getting a sufficient amount of oxygen which of course got me to thinking that I was going to start hyper-ventilating and pass-out before the half-mile mark.

Now I'm having flashbacks.  A few summers ago while vacationing in Virgina, at one of those Time Share Resorts (Thanks Brother Jay!), I remembered the same feeling when I was taking a Scuba Diving class.  Underwater for the first time, the air mouthpiece in place, sitting on the bottom of the swimming pool, I kept thinking "breathe normally?!".  I was sucking in each breath, wondering if I would pass out and float to surface.  But then it hit me, "People do this all the time, STOP IT and just enjoy the experience."  That's all it took.  And so while I was running the other morning I said to myself, "that's what this mask is designed for.  Knock it off and just enjoy the run".  That was it.

The first breath that mankind ever had was forced into his lungs by God.  After that mankind was breathing on his own, each breath a gift from God and yet under his own power.  Breath is life, and life is not forced.  Once we are "Re-Born" by the Spirit, that first Breath is forced into our souls by God.  What a great gift, the new life in Christ, yet we are responsible to breathe on our own.  Some grow weary in wondering if they have enough faith to run the race, they think they have to force each breath into their souls in order to move forward.  Stop it, and just enjoy the experience of being a child of God.  Breathe normally the Breath of God.


Chuck

P.S. Friday's forecast: 65 F