Friends
Have you ever had one of those days when you suddenly notice something that has probably been there for ages but you just haven’t seen it? I had one of those days today when I looked out of the office window and realised that the little dots of dirt on the glass that I had thought were on the outside were actually on the inside. My desk is underneath the window and the combination of my breath, the bookshelf on the windowsill not allowing enough air to circulate and condensation has produced a visible mark. Now before you start to worry, let me reassure you that this is a minimal problem, rapidly removed with a damp cloth and a spritz of Windowlene. It did however set me thinking about the breath of our spirit and the breath of the Spirit in our lives. After all, if my normal breathing while sitting at my desk for some hours every day can leave a mark, what of these other breaths we speak of?
We sing the hymn “Breathe on me breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love as thou dost love, and do what thou dost do.” There are times when we are more aware of the raging storms about us than the life-giving breath of God, but it is always there, and if we let the Spirit breathe through us through our reading of God’s word and prayer, then we also feel calmed and cleansed by that breath. We are very familiar with the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel, and God’s promise, through the prophet, to breathe new life into the Children of Israel, but we may be less familiar with similar imagery in the book of Job. In chapter 32:8 we read: “But it is a spirit in human-beings. And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.” In 33:4 we read: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
As we come towards Pentecost when the Church celebrates once more the coming of the Holy Spirit in power on those first Christian people, I wonder how aware we are of “The Spirit of God, unseen as the wind” blowing through us, and how aware we are of what passing through us, comes out in the way we breathe on the world through our words and our actions. I hope that the marks we leave are both more permanent and more helpful than the marks on the inside of my office window this morning.
God bless
Vicci