Breath Of Life

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 

  

  I have been thinking much about breathing. Every year as just as Spring arrives, and depending upon the temperature outside, tree pollen arrives with it. During this time as the air warms, the wind blows, and the trees bud out, my lungs become extremely irritated. They begin to close with inflammation. In addition to the medicine cabinet of drugs I’m already taking for allergies and asthma, I need even stronger medications just to breathe. 

  This year has been warmer than most and the tree pollen came early. My lungs are about as bad as they have ever been during this time of year leaving me at times contemplating a trip to the emergency room as my breathing has been such a struggle. Meanwhile, people throughout the world and my own country, in fact, just a few miles away from me, there are individuals battling the Covid-19 virus. Many of these people are on ventilators as the virus attacks their lungs and makes breathing nearly impossible. While thankful that I am not in such straights, nevertheless, as I struggle to breathe, I well understand the panic, fear, and worry that comes from working hard just to get air to breathe. 

  Without oxygen in our lungs we die. You cannot survive without it. I think that makes the current Covid-19 Pandemic especially despicable as it seeks to steal the very air people need to survive from its victims.  

  Our God in heaven began our existence by breathing air from himself into the first human being. With that breath of life, we came into existence. By that breath He continues to give us we continue to live.  

  

  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:28 

  

  We have so much to be thankful for. If you are alive and breathing you have reason for gratitude toward God. We should never take one breath for granted. If you have ever struggled to breathe, you know better than to take it for granted.  

  Thank God today for giving you breath, for giving you life. If you can breathe easy and walk outside under God’s lovely sun and sky breathing in the fresh air, you have more to be thankful for than you realize. 

  Prayer: Dear Lord, help us never to take life for granted. In you we live and breathe and have our existence. We thank You for it. Amen.