Breathing

Breathing directions:

Inhale.
Exhale.
Repeat.

Seems straightforward enough, right? For most of us breathing is involuntary, a non-issue, basically pretty easy. I mean really, how many times does breathing cross your mind?

Perhaps you wonder how long you can inhale your breath when you’re watching a scary movie?

Perhaps you’re concerned how long you can exhale when it’s your 93rd birthday to blow out all your candles.

I’m sure you’ve thought about how long you can hold it in when someone else lets it out.

Most of the time we take breathing for granted, I mean why wouldn’t you?

Did you know? On average, a person at rest takes about 16 breaths per minute. This means we breathe about 960 breaths an hour, 23,040 breaths a day, 8,409,600 a year.

Between everything else you have going on in life, thank God taking each breath is not something you have to concern yourself with. It just happens, all on its own. And then there are those who fight for each breath.

Each moment.
Their whole life.
Like my daughter.

She was born knowing each breath she took was precious.

I’ll never forget one day Jena was feeling really, really good.  Her whole face smiled as she said excitedly, “Mommy, Mommy, wow! I feel great.  I can’t believe how easy it is to breathe today!”

To her breathing was special. Like many others that have a lung disease, Jena did all she could to add a year, a month, or even a day to her life.

I know I treasured each breath she took.  I knew there were very few that were ever wasted.  She would rock climb, ride 4-wheelers, and do all she could to keep up with her older brother. Jena ran full tilt when she could and enjoyed each day to its fullest.

Time is like oxygen. You’ll never notice until it is gone. Sure, lyrics to songs can romanticize your time here on earth:

“There’s no time to kill between the cradle and the grave
Father Time still takes a toll on every minute that you save
Legal tender’s never gonna change the number on your days
The highest cost of living is dyin’, that’s one everybody pays
So have it spent before you get the bill, there’s no time to kill.”
(Clint Black)

But the reality is, we all run out of time at some point, So I ask you when your time does run out, will you have made the most of each breath you took? #ThoughtsToPonder