When more than one difficult piece of news came our way in a matter of weeks, one thing after another, I was finding myself having a hard time going to sleep, and then waking up in the morning with my adrenaline rushing before I could even think thoughts in words or pray prayers or claim promises.
Our subconscious is a crazy thing.
And more than once I found certain "tools" useful that I have been taught at different times in my life--breathing exercises to help a person release tension.
It helps to practice breathing out anxiety and breathing in peace.
Exhale angst, inhale calm.
It's not a spiritual exercise exactly, but it helps us physically and emotionally let go of stress.
So here I am, for a few moments a day,
practicing purposeful breaths.
"Let everything that hath breath," the Psalmist wrote, use that breath to "praise the Lord."
There is no room for anxiety in praise,
no room for angst in peace.
Our words and actions and even thoughts are important.
So are the breaths we breathe.
We can breathe in great gulps of muddy water that drown us in despair and doubt, or we can breathe out all the mud and inhale fresh, clear, mountain air of hope and trust in God.
"Breathe through the heat of our desire Thy coolness, and Thy balm," one of my favorite hymn writers, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote. "Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire
O still, small voice of calm!"
Whittier writes,
"Dear Lord, and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace."
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