Breath of life

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With every cycle of our respiratory systems, we are sustained by the same intimate inspiration God exhaled into Adam’s muddy lungs. That breath permeates every cell of our being, nose to toes, invigorating our bodies and minds and souls until it is ready to be released, silently, from the same nostrils through which it came.

This is as ordinary as oxygen and carbon dioxide, and as extraordinary as spirit and miracle. We rarely even think about it, this involuntary and essential process, unless our breath is shortened by illness or atmosphere. Then we remember again that without the breath of life, we perish.