Only one way to breathe?
I listen to him breathe.
He lays next to me.
Close enough to hear every breath.
And it comes.
What I have been fearing.
A faint growl like a lion.
A rattle like a serpent.
It grows louder, stronger with every breathe, until....
Coughing, choking.
He yawns.
A yawn.
For us a symbol of our weary mind and body.
For him a lifesaving breath.
The pattern continues until his one passage way,
His one way to breathe.
Is clear.
Clear enough.
To breathe.
I thank God for that yawn.
That breath.
That saving Grace.
God gave us both nose and mouth.
For what purpose?
To smell.
To eat.
To breathe.
He gave us two ways to breathe.
Two ways to live.
Should one stop,
we have the other.
Because He knew.
He knew there would be viruses and bacteria and all the yucky stuff.
He knew we would need another.
Another way to breathe.
When we had no other choice.
But what about this tiny creature.
Now in my arms.
My obligate nose breather.
So the doctor says.
Babies only have one way.
One way to breathe.
One way To live.
But God created the yawn.
So overlooked.
So mundane.
So lifesaving.
So this babe with a stuffy nose might be able to breathe.
To live.
To sleep again.
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7 NIV
