The book of Genesis tells us that what makes us more than a lump of clay is the very breath of God. The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. In both Hebrew and Greek, the languages of the Bible, the word for breath and the word of Spirit is the same word. In every breath we are en-spirited. I made a retreat once where we spend the entire first day being attentive to our breathing. The director called it the Prayer of God’s Breath. There was a article in Smithsonian Magazine a few (!) years ago about the composition of the atmosphere of planet earth. The article concluded with this observation: the air that we breathe is so long-lasting and so well-mixed that in every breath we are taking in a molecule of oxygen that Jesus breathed … and one that Judas breathed. Which molecule will in-spire us today?
