Posts Tagged: just breathe

“Just Breathe”

On January 3, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


“A man without self-control

is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28, English Standard Version)

I have always been a very self-controlled person—in my imagination.  I regret to report that my reality has not always matched my imagination.

The Bible has a lot to say about self-control.  It also has a lot to say about its absence.  Proverbs 25:8 seems to be speaking about the serious nature of a lack of self-control.  Like most proverbs, both ancient and modern, this saying is very terse.  Here is my rather literal, wooden translation of the verse from the Hebrew:

A broken city, there is no wall;

A man who [has] no restraint of spirit (or breath).

The  last word in this proverb is very difficult to translate.  It isn’t that Hebrew scholars don’t know what it means.  The problem is that the word means too much.  It can mean wind, breath, spirit, disposition, mood, inclination,” and these are just some of the meanings of the word rûaḥ.

So, which of these meanings might fit Proverbs 25:8?  I don’t know.  However, I wonder if it isn’t better to stick with a very literal meaning here, a meaning which would have a deeper nuance as well.

So, perhaps this proverb is talking about the importance of breathing.

Now, before you write this off as too Buddhist or too new-agish, or too something else, think about it for a moment.  Breathing is fairly important.  Yes?  And it is important for all kinds of things, ranging from playing the flute to executing maneuvers in martial arts.  It is, of course, also rather important for life itself.  I found this out in a deeply experiential manner a few years ago when I couldn’t breathe due to pulmonary embolisms.   Not breathing can ruin your plans for the day.

But breathing properly, slowly, deeply, is not the easiest thing in the world to do.  Breathing can be compromised by all kinds of outside influences.  “Her beauty left me breathless.”  “I am exhausted.  Let me catch my breath.”  That sort of thing.

On the other hand, breathing—when done properly—can influence our response to outside events and people.  I have noticed that, when I am in a tense or conflictual atmosphere, when I control my breathing, I am much more able to discern what I should say or not say, do or not do.  At least, paying attention to my breathing has helped the two or three times I’ve actually done it.

We can often control our breathing.  It isn’t as easy to do as you might think.  Just try it and you will see what I mean!  But difficult is not the same as impossible.

There are several different songs entitled “Just Breathe.”  Perhaps we need to listen to those songs (as well as to Proverbs 25:28), and begin to sing along.  Today, let’s practice the fine art of breathing.

, , , , ,

“Of Anger, Being Late, Dreams, and Faith”

On July 19, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I had a dream in which I was very angry.  This guy whom I thought my wife and I were helping out (for free, no less) yelled at us—after we had helped him—for not being on time.  We were supposed to be there at 4:30, and we had shown up at 3:08.  When I asked the man about those times, he repeated those times, and then I repeated those times, but he still didn’t realize how irrational and unfair his fear was.  I was furious.

Waking up furious is not a good thing.

However, I have a lovely painted rock on my desk that says, “Just Breathe.”  Right.

A friend of mine who is a psychologist said to me one time that some psychologists think that all of the characters in a dream are different parts of ourselves.  Certainly, I have an angry, irrational self.  In fact, I am often angry with myself for being such an angry self!  And I most certainly struggle with being on time.

So, after my unsettling dream, I get out of bed, go to the bathroom, put on the coffee, and make my bed.  I open my You Version app on my phone.  The verse for today is Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  I could definitely use some wisdom (and instruction) when it comes to managing my anger and being on time.

My 3-minute retreat from the Jesuits had a meditation that was based on Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  I looked at this verse in the Greek.  The verb “we have” is a present tense, which suggests an ongoing reality.  We continually have peace through our faith in Jesus Christ.

So, why don’t I have continual peace, even when I’m asleep?  It is probably because I don’t really believe, deeply enough, that Jesus has got this, whatever “this” may be.

Of course, I take some consolation from the fact that Paul writes Romans 5:1 to people who are already believers.  Why did he need to do that?  Likely because they were so prone to forget it!  And so am I.

So, I enter my sixth day in a row with a conscious sense that God and I will go through this day together.  However, I also enter the day with the awareness that I am prone to be angry and late.

In a little while, I will be playing softball in the senior league that I’m in.  Getting angry is definitely possible.  We may be a bunch of old guys, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get as angry with ourselves or others as a bunch of twelve-year-olds.

But I’ve been forewarned.

I think this journal entry has become today’s blog post, so I need to take care of posting it.  Otherwise, I might be late for my pre-game warm-up routine!  And that would make me angry!

, , , , , , , ,
Follow on Feedly