As Near as Your Next Breath

There's a story about a mom making pancakes for her two sons, ages four and six. The boys started arguing over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw an opportunity for a little life lesson.

"If Jesus were sitting here," she said, "he would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'"

The older brother turned to the younger one and said, "Okay, Ryan… you be Jesus!"

Isn't that just the way it is?

On Sunday, when we're in church, surrounded by good people and good music, it's one thing. But come Monday, with the pressure of work and school and troubled relationships, human nature takes over. It gets a lot harder to live the way we want to live.

Paul told the church in Thessalonica, "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) That sounds impossible. But there's an ancient practice that helps: the breath prayer.

Marjorie Thompson writes about it in her book Soul Feast. It's a very short prayer, just a few words, that you pray again and again throughout the day. You breathe in on the first half, and breathe out on the second.

Breathe in: Lord Jesus Christ…
Breathe out: have mercy on me.

Here are a few others:

Lord… grant me your peace.
Gracious God… teach me patience.
O Christ… give me strength.
Come… Lord Jesus.

You can write your own, or use a line of scripture.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for breath and the word for Spirit are the same. So every time you breathe the prayer, you're inviting the Spirit to fill you. And over time, it becomes almost second nature. You begin to realize that God's peace, strength, and presence are as near to you as your next breath.

Prayer: Holy God, in the midst of days that are busy and yet sometimes lonely, meet us. Meet us in quiet moments and in stressful situations, in doctor's offices and classrooms, in board rooms and at workstations, in traffic and in outings with friends. Be here with us, even now.

Come… Lord Jesus. Amen.

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