[Seasons: Spring XV]
Several religious traditions I’m aware of associate breath with life. It makes sense; the first thing a newborn does upon delivery is take a big breath (and then cry). And one’s last breath is often considered the moment life ends.
The creation account in my tradition has a beautiful rendition of how humanity received breath-life. The Creator gave it to us directly. In other words, the very breath (or spirit) of God filled our lungs with vitality.
Winter is the season that life is withdrawn. Life returns in spring. What the winter takes, the spring gives as a gift. Year in and year out the leaving and returning, withdrawing and reemerging, and taking and giving of life is the ebb and flow of seasons.
Did God inhale before God exhaled into humanity? I’d like to think so. Not that God needs metaphorical lungs, but instead that the inhale-exhale gift of life parallels the very inhale-exhale of the seasons.
Spring reminds us that the withdrawing of life becomes the very gift of life again. God’s inhale and exhale were not a one time creative act but are the annual gift God keeps giving.
