Breathe. Be breathed
page taken from Soothing Breath booklet (4 Corners Festival 2021) https://4cornersfestival.com/soothingbreath/ Breathe. Be breathed. Do you ever hold your breath? I do. In times of anxiety or stress, I stop breathing. Often unthinkingly, it becomes my way of asserting control, albeit not at all effective. Breathing deeply and with awareness is the better strategy! In a time of pandemic, when our breath symbolises danger, when a virus tiny yet deadly is carried in this very fact of our lives, how can we breathe freely, let alone peacefully? Where is God in this? As COVID-19 filled successive months of 2020, I pondered the topic of breath in my prayer. Have you noticed how closely connected God’s breath is to all existence? All is breathed by God. Again and again in Scripture, we find the Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma - translated breath, wind, spirit - used in connection with God. In the beginning, the ruach of God hovers and creation happens (Gen 1:2). The movement of God’s brea