by Christine Sine
This morning I have been thinking about the wonder of breath. I read one of my breathing prayers and sat in silence for a few minutes breathing in and out slowly. Listening to the sound of my breath, imagining it flowing into my body and deoxygenating my cells. Not surprisingly this had me reaching for another of my Advent prayers from the past. (Also one of my favorites)
Breath is miraculous. It is life. It is the very essence of God. Yet it is not this I have been thinking about. The cries of those who can’t breathe freely ring in my mind. So many people whose breath has been cut short by fear and terror, by fire, flood and starvation. Images of polluted cities whose air is slowly killing their inhabitants come to me. Asthma sufferers. Refugees fleeing their breathing strangled by hate and violence.
This is the season we not only wait for the one who gives us breath, we wait for the healing and wholeness that comes when all are able to breathe freely and deeply without fear and without the strangling impacts of hate, abandonment and marginalization.