We have awoken to a brand new day. Another day of life, another day of breath. And while we tend to take for granted the journey and the moments we have to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, our NEED for this mandatory function of life is always there.
So unconsciously, our brainstem controls the regulation of breathing depending on our body’s need. When Carbon dioxide increases in the blood, it reacts with the water in the blood, which lowers ph. This stimulates receptors, which send nerve impulses finding their way to the diaphragm to increase as needed.
Consciously, we can control our breathing through speech, through meditation, through yoga, through exercise and through singing.
For a person to lose breath could mean brain damage, even death. So breathing is a mandatory function of life which we ALL need to survive, of this we can agree.
Just as essential to our physical health, we have an equally important need to be loved and appreciated. Many studies have proven that from even the first hours of life, the way an infant is touched influences survival and even how it will cope in the world as an adult (The Primacy of Human Touch - Ben E. Benjamin PhD).
So, as humans, our need to breathe and our need to feel loved are clearly life changing functions.
So, how do these affect our belief system? When we breathe in and out, we have to believe that our body is going to function properly to allow this mandatory function. When we love, our heart takes over and believes in the person who is providing the love or in whom we love. These functions are in truth automatic in nature, mandatory in our life and well being; and in most cases completely invisible to the human eye.
I ponder, our Beautiful Creator, Our Heavenly Father, in His Infinite Wisdom; does He place these mandatory functions of human survival within us to show us that His Love also is a mandatory function of human survival?
David, in his poetic way shares in Psalm 139:13 “For, You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” So, our Creator who knit us together in His magnificent way gave us lungs to breathe, a heart to love. Why?
Jesus gives us a mirror into His Heart in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” A Son, like the Father, gentle and humble in heart yearns to share His yoke with us so we will find rest for our souls. He goes on to share in Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.
The more I taste of His Word, the more I want to taste. Just as our breath is regulated automatically and our heart seamlessly yearns and learns to love even from our first breath, our Father has built into us a need for Him, but while our need is unconscious, our action must be conscious and therefore a choice. In His beautiful Love Story written to His creation, He shows us how He created us, then He shares His great Love for us. Why did He create in us a heart to love? Because He loved us first. Jeremiah 24:7 tells us “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” So it’s our turn, He first Loved us; we must now believe and receive His Love, which opens us up to return His Love. A beautiful never-ending story from a Creator to His Creation.
Father, teach us to Love as You have first Loved us. Teach us to breathe in Your Love, and in turn breathe out The Faith needed to believe that You have our lives in Your Perfect Hand. Thank You for the promise blessed in Matthew 11:29, may we always yearn to take your yoke, learn from You and find rest for our souls in You.
We Love You,
Your Loving Daughter
