Breathe In, Breathe Out

"Every truth without exception - and whoever may utter it - is from the Holy Spirit."
- Thomas Aquinas, a 13th Century Christian

I am continually amazed with the places I learn profound truth from God. There have been sermons that have caught my breath and pierced my heart. But, more usual is God teaching me a lesson using the mundaneness of life, the objects and people I daily come into contact with, and small whispers during activity. And the great thing is that God is able to do that. He is bigger than our structures and relatinships and "stuff," and we can encounter his truth in so many places. If we believe God is the source of all truth, then whenever and wherever we encounter it, we can trust it's from God.

Recently I was at my weekly yoga class and the teacher shared this wisdom: we must regularly meet with the Divine and rest there, breathing in the good things like love, acceptance, compassion, patience etc., and breathe out what we've gained from the world: hate, bigotry, anger, disappointment, etc. Then, when we've done this, we'll be able to return to our communities - our family, friends, coworkers, the people we do life with, and we can breathe in the hate, anger, depression, bigotry, etc. and breathe out onto them the love, acceptance, patience, and more that we've gained by plugging into the Divine. And then, the process starts over again.

As I heard this wisdom, I immediately applied it to God - meeting daily with him to breathe in his goodness so that I can turn around and breathe that goodness out on the world. I thought it was such beautiful imagery and it parallels what we're told to do in the Bible: Love God, connect with him regularly, grow a deep relationship with him, and let the overflow of that relationship (love, patience, compassion, acceptance . . .) spill over into our other relationships. Likewise, the imagery of the vine comes up. Only when we're connected to the Vine daily, soaking up "nutrients," will we be able to live the lives God calls us to live.

So, today I'm focusing on breathing in God's love and breathing that out on the world wherever I go.