Breathe In Heaven

Setting: Church pew. 2nd row from the back. left corner.

You sit there.

Back hunched over with your head in your hands...

Just trying to make it through.

You're there for the family.

You're caught in a moment of reality

where you realize, you're not nine anymore.

you take a deep breath in.

Your life becomes a wirlwind.

All of the sudden you're asking yourself...

"what the hell am i doing here?"

....

Ten years later, the world is telling you

you should have a plan. Everything should be set.

The only thing missing is that precious piece of paper.

That's how life goes right?

Elementary school where you have your first love

and the only arguments you really need to worry

about are between your mom and the mom of the girl

who was mean to you at recess yesterday.

Middle school where you don't find love because you're

either the girl who needs to go down ten shades in foundation

or the girl who probably needs to start wearing foundation

or the boy who keeps an axe bottle in the top of his locker and "refreshes" between every class

or the boy who needs to discover an axe bottle.

Freshman year where you start to think you are the bees knees when really no one likes you.

Sophomore year where you just don't really care about anything.

Junior year where you start to worry about your reputation and can't seem to go a day without drama or 15 hours of homework.

Senior year where you could give a crap what anyone says about you because you know who your friends are and you're sticking with them like a baby blanket you can't go anywhere without and you want to graduate but are scared to death at the same time.

College where you actually become the individual you thought you were in high school and discover everyone is on different tracks and the topic of every conversation with your friend's parents or parent's friends is "what's your major?" in which you consistently answer ... "good question."

Career where your hobby becomes a pain and after awhile you're there for the money and because you can't see yourself anywhere else.

Family where you settle down with the one you can't live without and have a life with them while the world is telling you there is a 50% chance of you all making it together.

Retirement where you spend all your money on matching salmon-colored shirts and golf visors and trips to all the places you ever wanted to go.

Death where you reach heaven and all is well.

Right? I mean...that's what culture tells us.

What if you don't know?

What if...God forbid....you don't want that?

Then what? What does life have to offer you?

After all...we're all going to end up in the same place right?

Well, I'm going to let you answer that question for yourself.

But my answer is...if that were the case, what would be the point of it all?

breathe in.

What did you feel?

"Uhm...oxygen entering my lungs..."

Ok...but do you feel any better?

Why do, when you're stressed out, people always tell you to breathe in?

Well, I guarantee God isn't always the answer.

But the general answer is, to relax. To feel okay with the current situation.

To calm down.

Let me describe it to you this way.


I know talking about fire and brimstone is pretty "taboo" these days, but let's be real with each other.

Hell is made with fire.
Heaven is the most peaceful place you will ever experience.

You've heard of second hand smoke right?
When you decide to listen to the enemy and follow him, that's what you're exposing yourself to.
It is slowly killing you.
It will feel good for the moment, but in the end it will be slow and painful.
You are allowing yourself to breathe that in.

Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life..."

i had this verse tattooed on me a year ago, because I'm super edgy like that. it says "breathe into me" with heartbeat lines on either side of it. It's symbolizing that it's never to late to have New Life breathed into your body. I know I need that reminder. (can i get an Amen .. holla!) 

(credits to Rob Bell)

When you take a breath...you are breathing in the world around you.

When you take a breath...you are proving death wrong.

When you take a breath...you are breathing in the one who created you.

Every time you choose to breathe in heaven, you are spitting in the Devil's face.

How cool is that?

i understand this statement is controversial, but to me...

without God, I have no hope.

without God, I have no strength.

without God, I have nothing.

I might as well be lifeless.

But when I breathe in...

my chaotic mess of a life becomes...clear.

No, it doesn't always solve itself, but I know eventually...

I'm going to get somewhere.

Even if you are homeless, if you are breathing in, you have a purpose.

Life takes on a whole new meaning.

There are times when the world seems so much heavier than you.

And you don't want to do anything to anger it, because it will crush you.

There were times when I thought depression was going to kill me. Literally.

There have been times when I have gone through a heartbreak or death that is so painful you feel as if though you cannot breathe.

But what happens when you learn that the world does not hold

the key to your life?

What happens when you realize, you have more of a purpose than to be a clone of the American Dream?

Yes, it's not going to be easy. And sometimes, that lifestyle is what you are called to, simply because it works out that way.

But we need not to be scared of change. Of difference. Of a with fresh air. 

As I have said many times before...

I am nowhere near perfect.

I am not the best friend anyone could ask for.

I will always disappoint someone.

But people...we are not living for other each other.

And we are also not living for ourselves.

If you have faith that the Savior rescued you and is your hope, strength, light...

Yes..

"what the hell are we doing?"
quit giving hell so much credit for your life. 

Guess what...No one is ever going to live up to your standards.

And most likely in this culture, you won't ever be enough either.

But to Him, you will always be enough. you have always been enough,

That's the cliche we can all cling to, and have since we sat in sunday school with our Limited Too skirts and sequenced tops or khaki pants with a white button down and the dreaded clip-on tie your parents said made you look honorable.

I'm not here to argue that what we do on earth does not reflect the outcome of our death.

But if you were baptized

you weren't just being dropped in water by a man just to go on with your natural life.

Ever notice how you hold your breath when you go under?

You're not breathing in the world anymore.

you are getting soaked in a tub of renewal and given new lungs. lungs that do not belong to you.

God never promised that things would always be easy.

He promised that you would always be tested.

But He also promised that life with Him would be much much sweeter.

Setting: Church pew. 2nd row from back. left corner.

Some things in your life may never change.

But it doesn't mean the way you go about them never will.

If you breathe in the world, it's going to stick like mucous on your lungs.

Life would be a lot easier if you had someone else breathing for you, wouldn't it?

The world is not always right. But you may always be the only one who believes that.

Are you prepared to stand up?

just take a deep breath in. his lungs are a lot bigger than yours. and you may not get the chance to tomorrow.

you have two choices in life.

you can breathe in fresh air.
or you can breathe in smoke.

--you have to decide what you want to prove every time you take a breath--

breathe in heaven.

Love,

Whit ♥