“What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3: 6-8)
Today’s word: Breath!
I’ll be honest, some days when I reflect on the scriptures, and try to relate them to something going on in my life, or the lives around me, I tend to stretch the meaning a little. I may even be accused of fashioning the Word of God into what I want it to mean, rather than see it for its intended message. Then there are days like today, when things just fall into to place perfectly!
One of my favorite images in scripture is that of “Ruah”, the Hebrew word meaning the “Breath of God”. It appears first in the first verse of the Book of Genesis, when “a mighty wind swept over the water”. It appears again in Ezekiel when the dry wind brings life into the dead bones, and again when the Angel Gabriel visits the Blessed Mother, and again in John’s Gospel when Jesus “breathes his last”, or in the case of His greeting with the disciples after His resurrection as He “breathes upon them saying, ‘Peace be with you.’” Finally, we see more “Ruah” at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples as a “fiery wind”.
Our challenge today, as outlined in the daly Gospel reading quoted above is to understand that the “Breath of God”, the “Ruah”, is the source of the Spirit within each of us. While we can’t define where is comes from, or where it goes, it comes into our lives as IT wills, and it calls us to LIVE with a sense of purpose and dedication!
WE ARE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT, AND WITH THE BREATH OF GOD WITHIN US, WE WILL LIVE FOREVER!
PS: I love it when things fall together this easy! Thanks God!
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