Every Breath Is a Miracle

I am a morning person. That doesn’t make me any better than people who aren’t morning people, it’s just how I tick. I find that the first few hours after I awake are usually when my mind is most clear and I can be most creative and productive, and often most in tune with what God is trying to teach me.

I say that to explain that I almost always wake up before my sweet wife Tina, and often I will lay in bed close to her and just enjoy her presence. One morning this week, as I saw her sleeping body slowly breathing, I felt so much gratitude for her presence in my life and I thought, “Every breath she takes is a miracle, every moment that God give her life that I get to share in is a miracle.”

And I share that little moment to tell you this: that gratitude is the foundation of everything else that we do in our walk of faith. As gratitude grows broader, deeper, and ever present in your heart, the more clarity, strength, peace, joy and yes miracles will show up in your daily life.

And being grateful for the breath, either your own or that of someone you love, is one of the simplest yet most profound ways to cultivate gratitude. Try it. All you have to do is simply notice your in breath and your out breath, and with each one reflect on the miracle of your body, the miracle of life, the miracle of awareness, the miracle that we are in God’s presence, renewed with each new breath.

It’s a simple practice that you can do for a single breath or for as long as you want, eyes open or closed, no matter where you are.  To bring yourself back to gratitude, to bring yourself back to God’s presence.  Every breath is a miracle. Be blessed.