Are you troubled? Are you concerned? There are quite a few troubling and concerning things surrounding us each day...lately it can seem as though the "usual" issues we wrestle with have tapped in a heavy-weight champion from another division! Now it can feel like we're in a 2-on-1 match!!! What do you do?!
What if you're reading this and you're a leader of a group...an organization...a family, and it's as if everyone is looking to you for guidance? How much pressure do you see, hear, and feel?What do you do?!
What if you're reading this and you just don't understand how this situation can seem so out of hand? Kinda like a ship tossed in a tsunami? Everytime you gasp for air salt water fills your nostrils and mouth. What do you do?!
What if you make a choice and what if that choice works for you but doesn't for others and what if other people choices don't work for you? What.do.you.do.?
Step 1: take a deep breath, as deep as you can go, now h.o.l.d. it, count to 5. As you exhale, close your eyes.
Step 2: repeat but this time, try counting to 10 then exhaling with your eyes closed.
Step 3: let's try this one more time, just this time be prepared to close your eyes at the start of breathing deep, then count backwards from 10 and exhale.
Sometimes breathing is all we can do in.the.moment.
No surprise more than one thing changes a moment to momentS.
Sometimes all we can do in.the.momentS. is breathe.
But other times, while breathing may help our body and brain to function, the problem...problemS isn't solved. What happens then?! Solutions are needed...r.e.a.l. solutions! The bandaids we've been using, while water proof perhaps, are not solving the problems. Maybe it's time to box up the bandaids and let the air try something.
What?!?! What is air?!? We can't see it, can't hold it and certainly can't hear it, what could it possibly do to be a solution?!?!
Or can't we?
Do you see the air gently moving the tops of trees or flowers? Does it quickly brush your hair or cheek? Don't you hear it whisper?
Air...it moves. Solutions move. Breathing is movement.
In the Bible, one of the ways God refers to Himself is as the Holy Spirit...The Bible says God created man then b.r.e.a.t.h.e.d. into him life. Couldn't we all use some of that?
What if we took a moment...or moments...and asked, no....not asked, not that, we allowed God to breathe life into us, into our problem, into our choice, into our ship, into our group, into our wrestling match? If His breath can create life in dust, what could His breath do for you?
Lighthouse Ministries encourages you to take a few breaths, to meditate on Jesus' words found in John 16:33--"In the world you will have trouble, but be courageous! I have conquered the world." Then ponder the picture below.
What part of this picture resonates with you today...an hour from now...next week?
It's called, "The Light of Peace," can you see, hear, or feel the air in this painting?
Published in 1996 by Thomas Kinkade https://thomaskinkade.com/art/the-light-of-peace/
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