I'm back!
Here's a story I wrote. I'll explain it at the end. I hope it encourages you!
-L.
There once was a girl who didn't understand breathing. She was told that when she breathed out, it gave the plants air to breath in so she breathed out for as long as she could to give them every ounce of air possible, but when she had breathed out all the air in her lungs she would involuntarily breath in a large deep gulp of air. When she did this she felt guilty because it meant their was less oxygen for the people around her. She felt so guilty that she would begin to cry, which made her gasp, taking even more oxygen from the world around her, which made her feel more and more guilty, which made her gasp even more, stealing more oxygen and making her feel more guilty.
Then someone explained to her what it means to breath, "Before you can breath out" he said, "you have to breath in. When you breath in deep and full you have plenty of air to breath out. And when you breath out, it gives the plants the air they need just like you thought, but then the plants give out oxygen for you and the other humans to breath so there is plenty of air to go around. So you don't have to worry about 'stealing' air. When you breath in deeper you can breath out more, and the cycle goes on, providing plenty of air for everyone."
I wrote this based on a conversation I had during a Bible Study. I was talking about my experience serving in a certain capacity and how I had struggled with some pride over it. A friend reminded me that their aren't Giving Christians and Receiving Christians. We are all meant to go in and out of the two modes. One gives encouragement for another to receive but that doesn't mean they don't need encouragement themselves. In fact, they need it all the more to encourage without burning out. And the one who receives the encouragement isn't meant to keep it for themselves but to take the courage they received and help someone else.
Anyway, my friend compared this to breathing. Just like in the story, it would be silly to try to keep breathing out without breathing in, thinking we were doing some service to the planet, it would also be silly to fill our lungs and the try to keep all of the air to ourselves. If we "succeeded" at either one we would suffocate. But isn't that so often what we do?
Have you ever stopped yourself from encouraging someone by telling yourself "It wouldn't mean anything to them anyway," or refused to ask for the help you needed because "They probably have more important things to do?" I do all the time. But when we do this we aren't helping anyone, we aren't proving that we're tough or that we 'get it' we're just preventing ourselves from breathing.
God, please teach me to breath deeply. To let you remind me of your love and goodness and invite others to help me. Please give me courage to speak truth to others and reach out to them when they are hurting, to breath out your love and grace on them..
We need you God! Help us to breath.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16(ESV)
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
