Breath

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Elizabeth

All of creation waits with inhaled breath.

We wait as in the space before the upraised baton falls in the darkened symphony hall.

We wait as in the space before stepping over the threshold of home.

We wait as in the space before the first glimmer of dawn sparks into the darkest part of the night.

We wait with inhaled breath for the breath of God to arrive.

For the breath of God to arrive and breathe in the air of this world and breathe out the grace of heaven.

As we bundle ourselves against the cold and breathe out frost into the air, so we can’t help but breathe in a breath of hope even as we bundle our hearts against disappointment.

But God is a God of hope, so we can breathe easy and unbundle our hearts to the warmth of His love.

He did, after all, come once before and draw our air into His lungs and in so doing, foreshadowed the way He will come once again and exhale perfection into the very breath of the fabric of our world.

And so, as we wait with inhaled breath, we breathe out love and grace to those we see around us so that they, too, can breathe in a breath of hope

and wait for the breath of God to arrive in our world once more.

Outside the World

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Elizabeth

We stand outside the world.

We dance and dream and die, and through it all we long.

We long for something else, for something more. We long for something bigger, for something more real.

Some understand what they long for and others do not. We long for what is true. We long for a world that is fully real.

We catch breaths of the morning air, fresh and clean and pure. We catch glimpses of the morning light, startling and bright and glorious.

Yet we stand outside the world and these hints of morning air do not change us. We do not become pure or glorious.

We stand outside the world and we hear a Word. We hear a Word that spreads a rumor.

It is a rumor that this shall not always be so. It is a rumor that one day we will be allowed to walk through the door and stand on the right side. On the inside.

It is a rumor that one day we will finally be changed by the Morning. Through the Morning Star we will become pure and clean, bright and glorious.

We will be as we were made. We will become as we are remade. Remade into the very image of the Word.

And by moving through the Word we will be allowed to stand. To stand in desperate gratitude. To stand covered in another’s glory.

We will dance and we will dream, but we will not die.

We will stand inside the world.

Breathe

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Elizabeth

He knelt down, leaned in close, and

breathed into the dust.

Dust became man and man

breathed in His image and life.

He breathed His Word and

Word gained skin and

breathed life into twelve who then

breathed that life into more.

Spirit became fire and

breathed mighty wind into

hearts and minds which then

breathed change into the world.

We breathe a human breath then

slip under the waters where

all breath stops and when

we come up we now have His

breath in our souls.

One day our lungs will

breathe last breath and we fall

asleep but when we wake we

find Him leaning close and He

breathes into us perfect life.

Hope

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Elizabeth

Can you feel it?

It is the satin of an apple blossom on your cheek.

Real

Can you smell it?

It is damp earth and greening trees.

Real

Can you hear it?

It is hints on the breeze of a song of new life.

Hope

Close your eyes

and breathe.

It is real

and is waiting beneath what you can see.

We are meant

to be real.

We are meant

to recognize the real.

Close your eyes to what you can see

and breathe in

the real.

Fill yourself up with what

is given at all times

and is surrounding what you may see.

Can you sense it?

Satisfy yourself with what is deeper for it

is real.

…we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 6.18-20)

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Rom. 8.24-25)

Craving Connection

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Elizabeth

Fairly regularly, my eldest will call to me after I have put her to bed for the night.

When I ask her what she needs, she will say, “I just need you, Mommy. I just need you for a moment.”

I will crawl into bed with her, she will wrap a strand of my hair around her finger, and we will snuggle for just a moment.

My little ones need my touch. They need me to look into their eyes, they need to feel my skin touching theirs.

Why is this so necessary for them? Not just desired but truly needed.

Every mother knows this instinctively, that their babies need their touch, but it is also a documented subject of research studies. A 2009 Cochrane Reviewof studies found that infants who have their skin stroked regularly cry and fuss less than those who don’t. Science also has shown that skin-to-skin contact lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Funny how we need science to prove to us what we already know: that we need connection.

Why do we need this connection, both with others and with God?

One clue is in how we were created.

As God created everything in our world – light, sky, islands, dolphins, lions, sparrows – He spoke. Powerful, yet a bit impersonal.

When God created man? He breathed.

His face leaned in close to the dirt and His breath brought us into being.

That closeness is what we need, what we crave. That connection is what we were created to need.

God’s intention, though, was for us to always have what we needed, to always have a perfect connection to Him. In a garden, long ago, we threw it away.

So He once again gently leaned in close to us and became a soft, touchable baby. A baby that we could touch and hold and kiss.

A baby that would once again breathe on us and in that final breath on the cross, reconnect us to our Abba.

What will we do now that we once again have that perfect connection with God? Will we again throw it away, or will we cherish and nourish it?

Will we continue to seek to know God as intimately as He knows us so that our connection with Him can flourish? Will we lean in close to those we meet and breath grace on them so that they, too, can be connected?

What will you do?