Breathing With Both Lungs

Lungs. A place of life and death and vulnerability…


Breathing With Both Lungs

I once heard it said
Our lungs are where we hold our grief.
When I inhale sharply, to remember
Why does it hurt to breathe?

Lament happened so long ago
Or has it been only a moment or so.

How fully has my memory constricted.
Can I locate the dull ache I long to forget.

Who’s counting? My breathing,
Your breathing, Our breathing. Exhale.

Is the level measured by exhales
Do our inhales even work anymore?

Can we fill our lungs with Presence
Or is it far too late for that now
Now that absence is all we know
Will it always hurt to breathe?

If I practice, will I remember how it was breathing with both lungs?




A few reflections:

This minuscule invader, the virus we are all shellshocked by, attacks the lungs severely.

The two people closest to me who I have lost, months and years ago, both succumbed in part to pneumonia.

My own lungs are the weakest part of me, bronchitis dozens of times as a child, often out of breath more easily than I’d like.

And this day of Good Friday, the crucifixion… this torture meant they die of asphyxiation. A horror many are living now.

Here we are, together in this great collective gasp. Anxiety is stealing our joy breath. Sadness saps our life breath. God whose breath once went out, You suffer with us and for us, and we suffer with each other. Teach us how to breathe again.

~ Janelle

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  1. 1
    Anonymous

    To balance on a bike

    you’ve gotta keep moving

    but

    since we can’t

    always move

    our lives will improve

    if we learn just when

    it’s time time time

    to put a foot down

    to keep

    from falling

    and breakin

    our crown

    wise is the way to flow

    and forward

    is the way

    to go

    in

    this place

    called the space

    the world we

    live and

    move through

    one constant is change

    and though that remains unchanged

    when often rearranging our brains

    we come out the other side of the

    hand carved perception door

    quintessentially

    the same

    Divinely orchestrated events

    will try us

    test us

    and we must

    not let

    the tough ones best us

    lest we stall

    fall

    into the dark goo

    of

    self made despair

    sucking

    for precious air

    with our hurting hearts

    in

    our throats

    sad souls

    greying

    like ghosts

    So,

    before sanity is gone

    with the implosion of brain

    the moment we feel

    that strange

    and

    familiar sense

    of impending change

    we MUST

    with Shakespearean

    introspective

    circumspection

    point our hearts,

    our goals,

    and our

    actions

    toward Heaven

    Listen to the ways

    in

    which

    The Creator speaks to you

    some of these might be unfamiliar

    or ancient

    timeless

    or new

    “Yea'” timing

    is everything

    when it’s your turn

    to speak

    to act

    to

    choose

    turn your

    key

    take a swing

    get on your

    knees

    or if it’s just one

    first buy a ring

    or if it’s you

    saying, “Yes”,

    “No”, or

    “Maybe”

    with one of three

    choices

    to choose

    maybe pray

    now

    Before

    your

    sleek soul

    annointed

    arrives at that

    pointed

    life changing

    moment

    pray the Lord bless you

    with

    wisdom

    discernment

    and grace

    so when you find

    your beautiful

    self

    in a new place

    you will

    remember:

    Life is for living, and

    giving

    it’s not some kind

    of race.

    So welcome to

    the world!

    Of free reason pandered

    will.

    Before you go, I must say

    still,

    If I’ve learned anything from

    Shakespeare,

    from Hamlet,

    from God, through

    Bill,

    it’s that your

    will:

    is your own.

    And if you will

    in the end

    white light

    rather than fiery

    stone;

    keep your balance

    on your bike.

    and keep on your journey

    home.

    ~Luke~

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