Clearing Our Lungs Andy Freeman - 11 Apr 2014

During the first week of April it was reported that Britain was experiencing it’s worst air pollution for years. 

The cause apparently was sand from the Saharan desert whipped by strong winds into the clouds and the deposited here as rain or as a film of dust in the air.  All I know that I was reaching for my inhaler as friends from around the world used social media to ask me what I was complaining about and how this happens all the time.

Oh well.  

As I sat on a park bench struggling for air I began to reflect and remember to breathe - and then the whisper of God began to echo in my ears.  

For years now God has used the analogy of breathing to help me understand an approach to spirituality.  I breathe in and I remember what I want to ask from God, what I receive from Him.  I breathe in peace, life and hope each time I pray.  But this is only half of it, because breathing teaches me that I need an outward breath too - and in my prayers this is giving, serving and allowing my prayers to turn into action.  

If I just breathe in alone or just breathe out it doesn’t work and I’d be in trouble.

This simple of art of breathing was one of the inspirations for Punk Monk, the story of 24-7 Boiler Rooms.  As we embarked on weeks and months of 24-7 prayer we naturally breathed out in care for the poor, mission and service.  It was as natural as... breathing.  

But as I coughed and wheezed my way through air thick with the sand of the Sahara desert I heard God speak to me quietly.  

“How’s your breathing Andy?”

Lousy was my immediate response.  It was - both physically but also in my balance of life.  Busyness had pushed me into breathing out too much and not spending enough time breathing Jesus in.  My lungs were struggling.  

I realised too that all this Saharan sand was also speaking to me.  I began to notice how I’d be allowing myself to breathe in much that wasn’t helpful.  I needed to clear my lungs.  

At that moment, sitting on a little park bench, I coughed loudly and tried to take a long deep breath. 

“Help me to pray, help me to breathe” was my simple refrain each time I breathed in the air.  

How’s your breathing today?  Too fast, too slow?  Are you breathing out too much, or maybe not enough?  Are your breath’s of God’s Spirit too shallow, too fast?  

Spend some time reflecting and asking God to give you breathing lessons once again.

All images are used by permission in accordance with commons copyright license terms: Feature image is a derivative of the images 'pollution' by jubarrier