Just Breathe

Typically even and steady, I do sometimes have days where anxiousness weighs heavy; pressing.

I’ve had a couple of them this week. 

I stood in my office recently (to agitated to sit) thankful for the large windows that allow me to gaze out to the blustery autumn  -  to ponder the expanse of it; the mountains, the trees, the sky (though ominous), at a time when solid walls would only perpetuate the “closing in” feeling.

This is not the view from my office, but if you put a parking lot on this side of the fence, it's close.

Seemingly unable to even formulate a prayer, I told myself, “just breathe,” and whispered His name.

I’m sure it’s no coincidence that, at a time when I am aware of my very breath, I stumble upon the following:

Michele Perry, writer-blogger-speaker-missionary in the Sudan, said on her site yesterday -

“There truly is One Who walks even hollow hallways and empty expanses closer to us than the air we breathe.”

And dear Ann Voskamp, on her beautiful blog, A Holy Experience, shared the following in a journal entry she made in 2008 (which I just happened to see this week!) -

“The letters of the name of God in Hebrew are yod, hay, vav, and hay.  They are infrequently pronounced Yahweh. But in truth they are inutterable…

“This word is the sound of breathing. The holiest name in the world, the Name of Creator, is the sound of your own breathing. That these letters are unpronounceable is no accident. Just as it is no accident that they are also the root letters of the Hebrew verb ‘to be’… God’s name is name of Being itself.”

~Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

With her additional commentary…

"We breathe…. And call His name. 

In the soul-quiet of a tranquil farm night, I listen to the sound of breathing and feel how close He comes. 

He’s as close as the sound of your every breath.

 

Lord, every breath is Your name. Come."

... when {whatever it is} seems overwhelming... breathe deeply and press into Him. He is near.