The last few weeks, I’ve been reading and seeing different things about our breath, and the ways we choose to breathe, depending on how life is happening.
One day, a devotion was shared on sighing and what it meant. The title was ‘Your Sighing is a Symptom’, and there was a scripture from Psalm 38:9 ‘All my longings lie open before You, Lord; and my sighing is not hidden from you’.
Then a few days later, I came across a video that shared how we pronounce YHWH. The Hebrew name of God to the Israelites. It explained that the very act of saying His name is in the way we breathe. In order to say His name, as it has no vowels, we need to inhale and exhale to be able to say it out loud.
As I’ve become very aware of the motions of how I take my breaths: deep breaths, shallow breaths, sighing, and even becoming aware of when I’m unintentionally holding my breath because of anxiety or fear.; each of the different ways I breathe signify something that is happening in my mind and my body.
Recently, as I floated in the ocean, in the calmest way I’ve done in my adult life, I noticed something. As I relaxed into the posture, I could hear my breathing. As I took deep breaths, my body naturally allowed me to float and stay floating for much longer than short spurts of panicked breathing.
When I have no words, and sigh out my frustrations, King David reminds me that they are not hidden from God and God is aware of every emotion that I am going through.
I’m so glad that no matter what type of breath I take, that none of them are hidden from God and, even in my breathing, I can be acutely aware of just how much I need God.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that when you need us to learn or be reminded of something that you send information from various sources. Thank you for the gift of your breath and that we can use it in different ways to express our emotions, even when we have no words of our own – and.. You understand.