Exhale

Suggested listening: Breathe, https://youtu.be/k8PBakPWph4?si=miXDtYYR3fpV2vNr

“Be still,
and know that I am God.”
~Psalm 46:10~

“Without rest, we respond from a survival mode,
where everything we meet assumes a terrifying prominence …
where everything seems more urgent than it really is,
and we react with sloppy desperation …
Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy.”
~Wayne Muller~

The memories of playing in a baseball game is chock-full of an overload of senses:  the shouts of the crowd, the clinging of the dust on the ball field, the smell and taste of my sweat in the blazing sun as I stand alone in outfield; or the exhilaration in my short-stop position when the impact of the pop fly makes contact in my glove—still poignant to this day. The memories of playing ball with my brother, sister, and dad outside the farm granary after chores linger, just as the sun lingered in its setting on those long summer evenings.

The lingering is what helped refresh our souls and stretch out our rest, much like a rallentando stretches out the tempo of a musical phrase, a deceleration of speed in the midst of the metronome’s “prestissimo” clip. When we are caught up in the maelstrom of accomplishment and productivity, there is no time to savor the moments, little to no breathing room. We give little attention to our inhales and exhales.

In Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives, Wayne Muller suggests that God’s culminating act of work in creating the Sabbath was on an exhale. When God began to create life from emptiness in the six days of creation, we read that not only did he rest on the seventh, but he was refreshed:

“…in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
And on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
~Exodus 31:17~

Muller explains that the word “refreshed” literally means and God exhaled. And here is where God engaged in that rhythm of rest, like the piece of music that is impossible to play without the cessation of movement. The rest, ritardando, rallentando, and rubato bring the exhale needed so that we can begin creating afresh.

“Thus, in a beginning,
all creation moves with the rhythm of the inhale and the exhale.
Without the Sabbath exhale, the life-giving inhale is impossible.”
~Muller, p.36~

Think about the sabbath moments that can be created in your own life amid the commitments and obligations. Instead of living in a survival mode mentality, what are some shifts you can make in order to respond to life’s busyness from a place of rest? The simple act of lighting a candle, pausing to listen to the rain on the roof, watering houseplants, giving your child a hug, or simply consciously slowing down your breath and offering your exhale to the Lord can be small ways to make that moment holy.

“If busyness can become a kind of violence,
we do not have to stretch our perception very far to see that Sabbath time … can invite a healing of this violence.
When we consecrate a time to listen to the still, small voices,
we remember the root of inner wisdom that makes work fruitful.
We remember from where we are most deeply nourished,
and see more clearly the shape and texture
of the people and things before us.”
~Muller, p. 5~

“Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy.
If certain plant species … do not lie dormant for winter,
they will not bear fruit in the spring.
If this continues for more than a season, the plant begins to die …
A lack of dormancy produces confusion and erosion in the life force.”
~Muller, p.7~