I have a wonderful memory that I hold tight to that occurred quite a few years ago. I was very privileged to meet a lady whose last name was “Short” and to be a part of a two woman team who shared Jesus with her. She was a middle aged woman whose husband was no longer around and she lived alone and as fate would seem to have had it, she had just been diagnosed with cancer. My friend and I were happy to sit with her talking for hours about Jesus and she was very hungry and ate up every word and scripture that we shared. As was the custom of the church that we were attending at that time, we called our new friend “ Sister Short”. As time waits for no one, Sister Shorts’ time on this earth was very brief after our encounter. I will always remember the day that she went to be with Jesus. I was sitting with her in her hospital room holding her hand and praying. It was the most dismal rainy and dark day outside so she asked if we could pull the window shade down in her room. As she lay in bed holding my hand, I heard her say, “I want to see Him!”. So I began to pray that she indeed would see the face of her Jesus. Mind you, I had my eyes completely closed as I prayed and it was pretty dark in that room as well as outside. Then, the most miraculous and wonderful thing happened. A bright light came and flooded the room. I could tell even though my eyes were closed that there was the brightest glow but somehow I couldn’t manage opening my eyes. The light lingered for just maybe 10 seconds and then I was able to open my eyes. It was still very dark in the room and I looked over at Sister Short and as you may have already guessed, she was gone! Gone home to be with her Jesus because with her last breath she asked to see Him. With her last breath she called out her request and as I complied as well with my lips, her breaths pleas were heard and honored. What a beautiful beautiful moment that was for her, and for me as well.
What comes to mind right here is that the things that we say with our last breaths, “matter”. They matter as much as all of the things we say in our lifetime of breaths. Here’s the important question that we must ask though, “Are our words sweet? Are they kind? Are our breaths being wasted in angry words? Are our words ones that remain and impact for good change?”
I’m not trying to condemn anyone who happens to read this but my desire is to pose the questions that we all may seek to “do it better”. After all, if we do not seek to change always for the better than the breath that fills our lungs may indeed have become polluted. Let’s always be willing at least to examine and filter out the polluted breath until it once more becomes sweet in the nostrils of our creator.
Another example, and I think our ultimate example, of the breaths that matter is the story of Jesus and his crucifixion. As the account in the book of Luke reads, Jesus was nailed to a cross between two thieves or robbers. One of the thieves was openly ridiculing Jesus while the other thief stated, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? (Speaking to the other thief) We are receiving the due reward for our sin, but this man (Jesus) has done nothing wrong!” Then with his final breath ( the breath that mattered most in his case) he asked Jesus, “ remember me when you come into your kingdom?” And with one of Jesus’ final breaths he answered, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”!
How beautiful again were the final words that were breathed here! They breathed “life” for that thief who was crying out for forgiveness. They whispered love beyond what was deserved. The words of the thief that were breathed were words of hope and anticipation for what was to come and they were answered and met with a resounding “ yes” from our Lord and Savior.
I can still hear Sister Short saying, “ I want to see him” and when the light flooded into that hospital room she was met with a resounding “ Yes “ by her Lord and Savior. How amazingly beautiful and sweet was the very air in that room in those moments. It changed everything!
When we were created in the beginning of time it says, “ the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and ‘breathed’ into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul”. (Gen 2:7) Gods very breath was breathed into us to bring about life and our breath is part of what sustains us in this life. No breath, no life! So, if breath is the very essence of life then the words and things that we breath in and out on a daily basis matter. Words are indeed life and death. They build up and give hope or they tear down and pollute. Initially we were dust, a bunch of dirty polluted molecules that didn’t matter but then God breathed his breath, his life into us to make something of the dust! Wow! So, it matters! It matters what we do with the life, the very breath that we’ve been given! With our first breaths, our last breaths and all the in between breaths, let’s speak LIFE! Let’s use the life giving flow that is vital and let’s be what Jesus was to the thief who cried out. Let’s breathe what matters. . . . HOPE!
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