Beauty in motion, stilled. Air bubbles rising to the surface, defying gravity and reaching back from whence they came. A vision of worship. Time stands still. Deep quiet except for the sound of bubbles (breath) rising. I have rested on the bottom of the ocean shelf in the Gulf of Mexico and I was weighed down with seventy five pounds of gear. Lead around my waist designed to keep me down. Unlike mermaids, fish, mammals of the deep, and crustaceans I had to take my life giving oxygen with me. It is my happy place on earth. Deep, crystal clear waters, with only the sound of my own bubbles rising and the rays of the Son penetrating the depths. Total freedom! Weightless despite the weight holding me down. I didn’t look like this stunning photograph. This photo expresses the sheer magnificence of the moment. I was still. I knew God. I knew Who gave me life. I knew Who sustained life. I knew where my breath originated: The very lungs of God.
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7
Our image is the image of Holy God. Our breath IS the breath of an eternal existence. We like God are eternal. Destined to live eternally. We are living souls. Yes, our bodies will decline, die, and decay, but the soul of us lives on and will be forever. Jesus showed us this from the cross when He told the thief who had turned to Him and asked to be remembered. Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) What hope for those in the struggle of just breathing. There are days when we have to remind ourselves to just keep breathing for life has a tendency to knock the wind out of us and leaves us gasping for what was lost.
God reminds us life should be made up of moments “that take our breath away.” Those moments when we look into the eyes of a child, we hear a baby’s first cry, the return of a soldier from the battlefield, the departure of a saint headed for their eternal home, a sunrise, a sunset, waves crashing to the shore, standing on top of the Rockies, and a thousand and one other glimpses into an eternal future at the side of Christ.
God breathes. We breathe because He gave us His breath. It is eternal.
On day, I will float through the waters above the earth (Genesis 1:7) and require no equipment. I will have shed the weights and all the paraphernalia of this earth and simply let my bubbles rise in worship: Exhaling this world’s poison One. Last. Time. I will be free at last and forever in my happy place.
Father, Lord God of Heaven,
Thank you for life eternal and for giving us Your life giving breath. Oh Father, may we exhale in praise to You both now and forever. Let the glory of YOU and the joy rise among us!
Yvonne Jones
Let It Rise Big Daddy Weave
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. Isaiah 60:1 Dedicated to Meggin Dickerson Mayben who totally gets this in me!
