Inhale Gratitude

Published by helloredds@gmail.com on 01/26/202401/26/2024

It was an early March morning at our home in Central Florida.

The house was still wrapped in darkness but when I looked out the window, everything in the outside air was blushing pink.

Looking forward to a walk in this tinted haze, I promptly laced up my walking shoes and hurried out the door.

Once outside, I stepped into the softest, gauziest pre-dawn I have ever seen.

How gentle nature’s hues can be, how sweet and lacy, and yet how fleeting.

It did not last.

Aggressive blue-gray clouds were rapidly closing in, swallowing up the pink.

Inhale Gratitude

With an oncoming storm, I noticed how my pace and my breathing quickened.

Shallow, rapid breathing changes everything.

We breathe differently when we are angry, worried, excited, hurried, or tense.

Athletes know that proper breathing has a lot to do with performance as well.

Slow deep inhalations affect every system in the body.

Thankfully, in stressful situations, our bodies know instinctively to draw in a deep long breath.

It is our cue for balance. . . and so much more.

Still, We Inhale Gratitude

Still, in my fast gait, I thought more about breathing and recalled the Hebrew word for breath in the Old Testament as nefeš. It also translates as soul.

Thomas Merton said that God exhaled and breathed out the creation for us to inhale, each time filling us with life.

It is in this realm of understanding that my thoughts began to linger: the breath-soul connection.

Was this connection as fleeting as my swallowed-up pink sky?

When Weariness Sets In, We Inhale Gratitude

With a pending storm quickly approaching, I knew I had to make some adjustments to my day.

I began a mental rearranging of my to-do list.  It was not long before weariness began to ooze into my waning spirit.

It was then that I began to question my spirit under the umbrella of my breath-soul connection.

Why does my spirit fluctuate?  And so quickly?

Do I believe in this connection, in what I say and write?

I can feel like an imposter.

My mind can sink into negativity.

My aging body can tire and ache. I can be pulled down . . . but this I know . . .

 . . . I know my way back.

Restoration

I know I need to find space and time away from the doings and the drama of the day.

Being out in nature helps.

But with this revelation came another.

My love for nature is more than the beauty of woods, trees, farms, and green pastures.

My connection to my soul is less about what I perceive and more about what I breathe.

It is my connection to that breath that I seek and to linger in that breath.

Indeed, it takes me to a place where all things make sense.

It is where “thy holy will” exists not just as a verdict but with my full participation in this grand design.

With this comes a full groundswell of gratitude that fills my lungs and renders me weightless.

It is my full restoration.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

And, He restoreth my soul.

Words to inhale . . . .

About the Author:

Gloria is a contributing author.

You can see her blog, The Nature Whisperer at https://gloriasstories.com/

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