Air We Breathe

I have trouble breathing when I do any exercise class or video. I have taken a few yoga/pilates classes and I have done several videos and every time I forget the key is breathing. I will be in the middle of what has got to be considered a pretzel pose and I will hear the teacher’s calm steady voice say, “Don’t forget to breathe!” I want to first find out how she can even talk to me in such a soothing tone and then find out how she even remembered to breathe with her arms twisted behind her back balancing on one leg. Needless to say, I struggle breathing and I am not recovering from any major accident.

My Mom is struggling to take in enough air to get a large enough breath in. She had several cracked ribs and you really can’t do much for that other than make sure you take in enough air to fill your lungs so that you don’t get sick. During her stay in the hospital she had breathing treatments twice a day. The respiratory therapist would come in and do whatever it is they do. Mom would breathe in and out using an apparatus to fill her lungs with enough oxygen and to work on those ribs. This was to prevent pneumonia or any infection that might settle in her chest and lungs.

She went to the doctor yesterday because she had a pretty bad cough and fever. They put her on antibiotics and gave her an inhaler to work on her breathing. She sounded sickly yesterday when I was able to talk to her but Dad said she was feeling much better. In the midst of all her other ailments she struggled with breathing. It seems unfair that she would get a cold/cough in the middle of all her other aches and pains. It seems unfair that she would require help just to breathe.

Jesus is the air we breathe. He is so close to us that he literally breathes on us. One of the first things He did after His resurrection was breathe on His disciples.

John 20:21-22 (New International Version)
21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

It’s almost a funny image at first but when you think of it in terms of closeness and my own Mom’s experience it’s again beautiful. He is so close to us and longs so much to be near us that he literally breathes on us. He is the air we breathe. He will be the air my Mom needs to breathe. He will breathe on her for full healing.

One of my favorite praise songs explains the yearning for His holy presence to literally be the air we breathe.

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me
And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm I'm lost without you
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
this is my daily bread
your very word spoken to me
And I'm, I'm desperate for you
And I'm, I'm lost without you
And I'm desperate for you
And I'm, I'm lost without you.
I'm lost without you.
I'm lost without you.
I'm desperate for you.
(Cry out to live)
I'm desperate for you..
I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm lost without you..
I'm lost without you
I'm desperate for you

May He be the air we breathe and may He allow my Mom to breathe easier in her recovery.