When I was in college, I took a swimming conditioning class and discovered that I really like swimming. I liked working out in a pool, the rhythmic nature of kicking, stroking, alternating breathing, the quiet of a pool and exercising without jarring my joints. When I was first learning the standard freestyle stroke, I struggled to get the breathing thing into my actions. Thankfully, the teacher for my class gave me a few pointers, connecting the inhale when I turned my head on a stroke and doing the exhale when my head was in the water. After I became more proficient with that rhythm, I could swim increasingly longer and longer.
In musing about breathing—the combination of inhaling and exhaling—I’ve been reflecting on God breathing and how that’s important for us. Consider that the first time we read of God breathing is in Genesis 2:7 where it says, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
The entirety of the human race—the eight billion people on the planet today along with everyone that’s lived throughout history—began when God breathed into the statue that He sculpted as the ultimate creation of His creative endeavors. We exist because of God breathing into Adam.
Additionally, breathing is the combination of both an inhale and an exhale. To this end, we see that God exhaled when Jesus was dying on the cross. In Luke 23:46 it says, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” Jesus’s last exhale on the cross was when He seemed to surrender to death. To all the observers watching Him, it looked like His life was over, and it appeared to be a very grim and ugly conclusion.
Thankfully, as we have just celebrated Easter, we revel in Jesus’s resurrection! Let’s remember that Jesus continued His breathing as we read in John 20:22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It was through Jesus’s resurrection breath infused into His disciples that they received the Holy Spirit, which is very powerful for us to give some time for reflection.
I’d suggest that all of these examples of God breathing, exhaling and inhaling, are reminders to us as we breath every day. The medical community says that we have more than 20,000 breaths per day. Maybe we don’t think about our breathing very much, however, let’s consider that similar to Jesus exhaling on the cross, we can let some things die in our lives.
Perhaps we can exhale bitterness, judgments, selfishness, vengeance and lots of other ugly things. In addition to exhaling, let’s consider that our inhales can be the infusion of life, such that we can receive God’s peace, love and presence into our lives throughout each day. Let’s celebrate that each of us has the breath of God in us, and this is such a life-giving gift!
