Breathe

We are part of a society that is constantly pushing us into an escalated state of existence. With social media and ready access to the internet 24/7 our dopamine synapses are shortening, our anxiety is heightening, and the pressure remains to do and be more. We are expected to be what we cannot be.

These subtextual pressures influence belief systems as well. We expect perfection of ourselves. The moment we fail we assume we will never succeed. We push and push and push. And we forget grace.

We read the words, pick up your cross and follow, or bear one another's burdens and assume that means we need to be better. "If I just work harder, if I just do more, if I just believe stronger than things will change. Then my loved ones will be okay. Then I will be following Christ."

We are culturally conditioned from birth that the answer to your problems is to pick yourself up by your boots straps and just work harder. But the equation doesn't work that way. Life isn't simply Effort equals Results. It's much more difficult.

Surrender.

Breathe.

These are the things that are asked of us. 

The book of Job, one of the oldest books in the bible chronologically, is the story of a human who did everything right. According to the equation we try and staple on to life he should have succeeded and prospered in life. But effort didn't equal results. Even after committing his life to Jesus, he lost everything.

In the later chapters of Job, after losing his family, his home, and all he owned, Job speaks about what he has after everything is taken from him.

For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. – Job 33:4

If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath, all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust. – Job 34:14-15

This man, in the midst of excruciating pain and suffering, speaks of breath. He comes back to the ultimate truth of life. We are still living. We are living because we are sustained. Not by a sun, an atmosphere, food, water, or sleep.

We are sustained by a breath.

I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. – Ezekiel 37:5-6

Life won't turn out the way you want it to. The effort you supply will not create the life you dream of. Our plans will warp and crumble. But in the middle of this mayhem, there is breath.

Amidst the rush of society, the unexpected sorrows of life, and the confusion of existence;

I will breath. For I am sustained. And in this moment, that is enough.