Imagine with me, for a minute, a flower bud gently, carefully, majestically unfolding into its full beauty.  Just close your eyes for a second and see a beautiful yellow rose, a gorgeous bluish-purple iris, an enormous magnolia blossom slowly, meticulously unwrapping from the inside out revealing its hidden beauty to the world.

Now, what if that is how we imagined our own becoming.

There’s this pressure to work, work, work.

There’s this pressure to do, do, do.

There’s this pressure to exert energy and press forward toward this goal that is outside of ourselves…but what if? What if you already have everything you need to be? What if God made you perfectly, fearfully, wonderfully, from the very beginning with all of it, everything you need to be all you were created to be?

What if?

What if instead of working, doing, exerting, pressing we simply choose to unfold and reveal the beauty that resides in each of our uniquely designed souls? What if?

I imagine that’s how He intended it all to happen – to unfold what He has precisely, purposefully placed within.  I imagine Him sitting on the edge of His seat as He anxiously waits to see her unfold.  I imagine His delight as each petal opens ever so slowly to express her beauty. I imagine His eyes alight with love as He sees her spread and display her loveliness.  I imagine Him dancing over the beauty she unfolds and shares with the world.  I imagine that He is so in love with this unfolded daughter who displays an aspect of Himself that only she can express.  I imagine that this creation unfolded is His perfectly engineered design and to be her perfect self she must choose simply to unfold and rest in His care.

What if? What if it was that simple?

To unfold and rest in His care.

We vacillate between extremes most days, don’t we?

I have been dancing like a pendulum swinging in relationships with people. Moving in, moving out- trying to find my place and purpose. I can be all or nothing.

Sacrificing, people pleasing, powerless

or

holding back, guarded, closed–

Neither is the right place to be, extremes are never good.

We can not attend to relationships, broken people, and our own hearts when we vacillate in the extremes.

We open ourselves up, get burned, and so we swing all the way to the other side in an effort to bind the wound and protect ourselves – bandaging and insulating.

Can you see it?

The pendulum back and forth – swinging drastically to the right, severely to the left,

violent in its clashing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth!

We can not be so dramatic with each others’ hearts.

Hearts need consistency,

hearts need something to depend on,

hearts needs safety,

hearts needs patience

and endurance

and kindness

and generosity

and a real genuine desire to be known.

We need each other to be careful with the hearts we are privileged to hold.  

And so the pendulum slows…to a rhythmic peace that holds a heart with care.

Slow and steady

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

Rhythmic in its effort to find a new place, a new peace, a new posture for my own heart, learning to care for the hearts of others.

Just breathe – we say that to each other a lot don’t we? Some days more than others.  A friend of mine has an alert on her phone that prompts her to breathe. It seems silly but we need the reminder because this life can be difficult and we hold our breath often as we wait for resolve.  And resolve can be a long way away so holding our breath can be torturous – we stop living and exist in the space of waiting until…

until it’s over…

until this passes…

until it’s finished…

Don’t hold your breath!

Breathe deeply and feel peace flood your soul as fresh breath enters weary, tired lungs.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray He began His prayer with “Our Father who art in heaven.”  In Jewish cosmology the word “heaven” in the context of that sentence actually referred to “the air I breathe in.” So imagine for moment the air around you, the air you breathe in, filled with the Father’s presence and take Him into every cell of your body. Feel His holy presence invade you as He offers Himself, a gift in the air you breathe. Breathe deeply!

God is the source of life, the breath of life and when we still ourselves and breathe, simply breathe, we reconnect with our Creator. Just be and breathe.

We do not need to perform, to busy ourselves doing.

This is so hard, we have been wired to believe that we must “do” to meet our needs, to please our God, to be okay. He is not interested in our circus act performing for His approval. More than anything He wants to sit with you and just enjoy the quiet together.

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

As we still and take a deep breath we reconnect with the Creator – the one who gave us breath at the beginning of it all. There are a million ways God could have brought Adam to life on the 6th day of creation – He could have spoken with a word like He did the sun and moon, He could have allowed Him to wrestle himself out of a cocoon, He could have looked at him, danced over him, played a harp to wake him up, called out to him, kicked him in the tail to jolt him to life…millions of ways but God chose intimacy. He chose the intimate act of being up close and personal as He cupped Adam’s face in His hands and breathed into Adam’s nostrils.

So here’s the secret…intimacy with your Heavenly Father can be found in the simple act of breathing. Is reading your Bible good? Yes! Is praying good? Yes! Is attending church service good? Yes! Is worshipping good? Yes! Yes! Yes! But the most intimate act of communion can be found in the uncomplicated act of simply breathing.  Still your mind, quiet your heart, let all else fade into the background as you focus on breath and invite holy presence.

You are a human being not human doing. At the very center of being is breath – it is the source of life that provides a fresh supply of oxygen for every cell in your body. On average humans breathe about 12-20 times per minute. Over the course of a day, that adds up to 17,000-30,000 breaths per day or more!

Isn’t it just like God to give us an easy reminder of His desire for intimacy with us?! As He drew close to Adam in the Garden of Eden to bring life to mud cells I imagine Him thinking about the mechanics of our bodies and how they would operate – 17,000-30,000 breaths per day – each holding the reminder of this intimate moment when He chose to give us life and be in relationship with us.

Intimacy with the Father remembered in the rise and fall of your chest…

over and over and over and over!

-big sigh-

Yes, intimacy is that easy, it’s just a breath away!

–He whispers because He is close–