Holding my Breath

No, I don’t have the hiccups.

We use funny phrases in our English language, challenging for those who are learning how to listen to it and speak it.

We were talking about the upcoming US election last night and I said “I’m not holding my breath”, expressing my thoughts about lack of surprise, for anything could happen.

It’s been like that in 2020. Recently as we had a significant snowfall, so unusual for October, weighing down on trees that were unfinished with their autumn labour of releasing their leaves.  I spoke of how weird it was.

And the response was, why should you be surprised? It is 2020.

Indeed.

Another funny phrase we use is “waiting for the other shoe to drop”, just a funny way of wondering what and when other disasters or calamities will come our way. In this year, many of us have lived with and are experiencing a sense of impending doom.

As depressing as this is, I have come to believe that in voicing my fears I can face them with more clarity. I can rationalize. I must differentiate between worry and actual danger. In naming it, I then can practice serenity. Is there something I can or should do? If not, I practice letting go, releasing what is not mine to fret about.

An antidote to fear, especially panic is to pay attention to our breath. It helps to take a deep breath, to hold it, to slowly release it.

I love praying “ breath prayers” which give me focus and I can breath and pray at the same time. “You are with me”, “I choose to trust You”, “You know”, are prayers I pray as I breathe.

In these days of rising pandemic numbers, of political unrest and uncertainty, of racial tensions, and a unsettled climate that seems to reflect our brokenness, we need to breathe. We need to pray. We need to listen. We especially need to love.

Breathing together, we can pray, “You are in all our tomorrows. You are the giver of Peace. We choose to trust in You.”