Breath for Breath

There was a game that we played growing up.
Living in a neighborhood with sidewalks, two could easily play, side by side.
Walking to and from school each day made this game a possibility.
It always left you in a sea of giggles.

We would start side by side and walk in step with each other.
We would decide which foot to start off with and then begin walking.
It was very hard to do because of the variation in our heights.
I had long legs, so my one step was really two steps for a shorter person.

It was difficult to keep in step with each other.
We wanted to walk at our own pace.
The shorter person made ridiculously long strides to accommodate mine.
I took many extra small steps to match their gait.

Inevitably one of us would stumble since we were trying to walk like someone else.
The stumble made us laugh so walking together at this point was impossible.
Two friends, walking arm in arm, getting nowhere, but loving every minute of it.
This game cannot be played if you intend to walk with a purpose.

Growing up, I knew a family whose daughter had a form of cancer.
There were many children in the family and this devastated them and all who knew them.
Living in a small house, the girls shared a room and the boys shared a room.
It was close quarters, to be sure, but they didn’t seem to mind.

As things progressed and the prognosis was not good, I listened to one of the girls.
I lay there at night and I breathe with her.
I imagined her laying in the dark listening to every breath; matching it with her own.
I was young, I never having experienced sickness like this before, and I cried.

I was glad we were all in the car and it was night since a silent tear fell down my face.
I couldn’t imagine breathing with someone.
I knew that I could not keep in step with someone as we walked.
How could I ever match my breath with someone else?

Without understanding why, or being able to put it into words, I knew THIS was love.
This breathing with another.
This matching your breath with theirs.
This sacrifice of even something as vital as breath, so another would live.

It was as if this matching of breath somehow sustained her sister.
My breath for your breath.
Sacrificing sleep and comfort for the sake of another.
Sacrificial love.

The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

God breathes into us and we are alive.
Our breaths continue until the day God determines.
God knows each breath we take.
God never slumbers or sleeps, so every breath we take is accounted for.

Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, was born of a woman.
Jesus had to take His first breath as a baby in the manger.
I am sure that many nights His mother listened for His every breath.
She probably breathed with Him.

The creature breathing with the Creator.
The one who was given breath, breathing with the Giver of Breath.
Matching every inhalation and exhalation.
This is love.

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”
…With a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:33,34,37-39)

Jesus and His Father breathing together.
His Father breathed that first breath into Jesus’ nostrils.
All His earthly life they matched each other breath for breath.
Until that moment on the cross.

God the Father had to turn away.
God the Father could no longer match His Son’s breath.
That breath needed to cease so we could really breathe!
Jesus’ breath stopped so we could really live.

Sacrificial love.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you. And with that He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit…”
(John 20:19-22)

The resurrected Lord Jesus breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete; likened to a wind, a breath.
Breath for breath, so we could really live.

Our first breath was from Him.
His last breath was because of us.
His resurrected breath surges through us giving us life so that we can be sent.
Sent to breathe with others, sacrificially.

Now, THIS is love.

 

2 responses to “Breath for Breath”

1. What a bittersweet memory! Thank you for tying this one up so beautifully, breath for breath.

   Reply

   • Cathy,
     I knew you would remember…
     Gina

     Reply