Breathing the breath

Matt Redman has a couple of songs about breath:

"You gave me this breath / you gave me this strength / and every day I'll live to obey you
With all of my heart / with all of my soul / let every breath I'm breathing display you God." (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made)

"We're breathing the breath that you gave us to breathe / to worship you
And we're singing these songs / with the very same breath / to worship you, to worship you" (Breathing the Breath)

I have reflected on breath a few times. I've probably written about it in this blog more than once. Here goes again!

On Sunday, my attention was captured by the words of a hymn:
"Praise to the Lord! O, let all that is in me adore Him! All that hath LIFE AND BREATH come now with praises before Him!"

I started looking up some verses, and here are a few:

Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Ps 104:27-30 All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time... When you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the ground.

Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

All that has life and breath should praise God because He is worthy.

God then spoke to me:
Breath is a gift, but a hard one. At times you would rather not accept it and pass on to the joy of eternity. But that is not your path.

One day you will see your husband and rejoice in the glory of my presence as one - as you were created to be. The longings of your body will be left behind because they will be no longer necessary.

But now, your body aches for him, for touch, for companionship, for emotional and physical release that cannot come. You do not see how it ever could, because now is not the time to look to the hills or to see the waters springing through the ground. The horizon is there when you are ready to look at it.

Meanwhile, keep walking. Keep breathing as I give you breath. Guard your tender, soft, beautiful heart from those who would injure or misuse you. Even those who appear "safe" do not need to know it all. In time you will become less pained by this. You are fully known by me. I know it all and nothing is hidden from me. Breathe that in, too.

There is MUCH ahead of you. Your husband's death is not the end ofr you. Much more lies around the corner. Love may have seemed to leave your life, but you have much capacity to love and to be loved. I would not see how it can be good for you to wallow in loneliness or longing for the rest of your life.

Now, here, though, is not the time for something new. Your life is gradually opening out of the time of loss and, again, in time, new love will come. But not yet. You know yourself that you are not ready, not able to embrace it.

I need to breathe because it is a gift from the Lord.
I need to breathe although my husband could not.
I need to breathe because this isn't the end of the story. Not yet.

If only it were that easy!