17 9 / 2011
is it sad that i really appreciate this piece from the mlc connections by the chaplin?
Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale… this is the interchange of life – breathing. Such a simple activity that undergirds everything you say and do and think and are.
Take this moment to take a deep breath, as deep as you can (to get the point you have to do just as I say). Okay, now without exhaling take another one. If you followed the instructions correctly, to take another breath, once you have filled your lungs to capacity, is impossible. You can’t, there’s just no way that you can put more in … unless, you give what you just got away.
You literally can’t hold onto your life by holding on to your life. That’s why Jesus said, ‘The person who keeps their life, who tries to hold onto their life will lose it. But the person, who gives their life away, will gain it.’ (Luke 9:24, writers paraphrase).
Everything about life is giving. You can’t live life without being a consistent giver or you will lose it. Breathing illustrates this so well. You can’t even retain life without first releasing it.
If there is any message in breathing, it’s that that’s the way life is to be lived in all your areas of resource. This is not an encouragement in self-denial or to give away all your possessions.
This is a gentle reminder that the essence of life and the pure joys of life are experienced when you are generous with your talents, gifts, time, thoughts, speech and ability to share your resources with others.
The moments when you realize that you are truly living are usually the moments when you know that your life has added value to another. And that can look like helping a student gain the confidence to overcome a difficult concept, or taking the time to appreciate a colleague or seeing your daughter excited about an achievement in school that had a lot to do with you dropping her off in the early hours of the morning.
When we get the time to reflect we can identify that those were moments when we exhaled, when we gave of ourselves. And in the giving, we gained the pleasure of knowing that we made a positive difference (no matter how great or small).
Experience has taught me that everything about spiritual reality is giving. God provides the air that we breathe and yet we are not insecure about letting loose the one we just got. Life is all about giving.
Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Inhale…exhale…this symbolizes the spirit of a life well lived.
