A memory popped up on my Facebook feed. On this day, twelve years ago I posted a quote from Mahatma Ghandi that said:

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

I don’t remember specifically what was happening in my life that that quote would resonate with me, but it resonates with me today.

As things are opening up and mask mandates have been removed (for the most part), there seems to be an urgency to get out to previously restricted places; to be with others; to return to some sort of “normal”. And suddenly life is increasing speed. I am also hearing from others that it is also increasing anxiety.

Long before I was an Ordained Minister, I was a Lamaze (Prenatal and Postnatal) Instructor. My company Expectations was contracted by three hospitals and I taught privately in my home. It was a wonderful time - meeting and guiding couples through one of the most significant and spiritual times in their lives. One of the core subjects of my curriculum was Non-medical coping strategies. The most effective coping skill I taught to deal with anxiety, stress and yes, even pain, was deep breathing.

Breathing is highly underrated.

Breathing is a miracle we seldom stop to think about. We just do it and it keeps us alive.

And breathing helps us to slow down, to chill out and to be mindful.

Breathing can also be Spiritual - to consciously and deliberately be aware of each breath as you inhale the pure and exhale the impure.

To embrace a readiness to “exhale” or confess that which has separated us from God (sin), and to “inhale”, or trust God to fill us with His Holy Spirit.

When life increases speed or negative circumstances of life crowd in, we can slow down and breathe. And as we do we can “Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit” – Ephesians 5:18 (ISV)

Breathe….Just Breathe.

Join us this coming Sunday as we begin a new sermon series that will take us to Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022.