“God breathed, and all the stars were born.” “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” NIV Psalm 33:6.
“And he breathed on them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22.
The Lord breathes on us.
At his breath, we are cloaked in gold dust,
stars and the jewels of this earth
which he creates from mud, coal, rock,
and the bones of dead creatures.
From these nothings,
he creates diamonds, sapphires,
rubies which he breathes over us.
He sees us as beautiful, resplendent,
Because we are his children.
* * *
But we forget
that “we do not have because we do not ask .”
that the Lord can breathe
inspiration on us,
the ideas, the words, the books we long to write.
That God blessed the schemer Jacob
because he ask him to.
That God enlarged the territory of the insignificant Jabez
because he asked him to.
And that is the great secret of getting things done:
Asking God for the power of the Holy Spirit,
And “doing what he tells us.”
We forget that the Lord can breathe
Our hearts’ desires on us.
We think that achieving stuff is all up to us.
But the more we crave the good things of this earth,
The more we need to burrow into the heart of Jesus,
To find them in him, through him and with him.
* * *
We instead toil and strive and scheme and intrigue
To get to the top
Of our particular ant-heap
Forgetting that
He can breathe on us everything we crave for,
Just like that.
And we worry and strategize
and look around in envy,
while he, forgotten, stands waiting
to scatter his goodness
on whomever will ask,
sadly watching us scheme and scramble
For he knows there’ll never be a shortage
Of wealth or honour,
For he creates these with this breath.
More from my site
On Cancer, Declining Chemotherapy, Healing, and Future Plans
Walking on the Waters, Looking at Jesus, in the Shadow of the Big C (who Must not be Named)
When Sarah snorted, but God had mercy on her, anyway
In Which I Resolve Not to Be Afraid
A Little Bit of Theology for Victims of Burglaries (Which, Alas, I Have Just Been)
Hi, I love all the color in your site and what wonderful words you’ve written. God, Art, Words. Three of my favorite things. Thank you.
3 of my faves too, Janene. And thanks for visiting 🙂
I am enjoying the poetry. It seems God has been using that more lately in my life. Also to fix my eyes upon Jesus has been a theme. This post enforces those musings.
Thanks, Mollie! Would you like to review my new children’s book?
We are so needful of the breathing of God in our lives. It is essential for our physical life as well as our inner spirit to bring us into the full knowledge of His glorious presence. Your poem is such a wonderful exposition of God’s need to hear us…asking and seeking His face in all we do and say.
Thank you, Kathy! 🙂
Good stuff: of course, we need to do BOTH – to honour and praise and thank God – and to use our gifts along the lines we have to hand, like I have to do the PR for my books like anyone else – trusting that if He called me to use the gift, He will place the fruit of my labours in the hands which will benefit! (Parable of the talents, I think?)
btw, unusual use of Klimpt’s The Kiss, I thought… baptising it with grace…(and it is a graceful painting…)
See my blog – it’s new one post – and see you on Sunday.
Yeah, I guess we have to find a way to do promotion peacefully, with prayer, waiting for his leading and following it. I am promoting my first children’s book this week too, and trying to do peacefully, waiting on God and hearing and following his voice and leading.
“Ah, that passive voice!” I’ll be thinking about that line for the rest of the day. And thanks, Anita, for reminding me that second things are. . . well . . . not first things.
Steve! Thanks, again, for the encouragement!