Just Breathe

I am now at the Greater Binghamton Health Center as a chaplain.  My role is to relate with patients and help them draw upon religion and spirituality as resources for their mental health.  The transition to there has been easy as many there are hungry for divine input and desire for a better life.  The transition back home to live with my wife in our own home is easy as well.  At least from my perspective!  Seriously, I believe it is good for her too!  I am still pursuing leads for part-time work and am scheming other ways to increase my income.  I expect the puzzle to be complete in the near future. 

In a transition like this, trust matters.  I am trusting God, life, myself and others.  While I cannot predict the future I can step forward applying myself to secure what I need to perform meaningful service in the world.  I just don't know what that looks like yet!  And I have a choice - be anxious about the future or be creative in the present.  There is a song that advises:  "Breathe, just breathe."  Breath is a gift that has a powerful affect upon us as we face challenges or even the unknown.  We always have it with us.  We also always have the unknown before us.  God may seem an unknown as may God's will and God's providence for us.  And so we are called to be brave and courageous, not so much in how we act but in our presence or being.  All I can really do is say in answer to God's call is here I am all present and accounted for.  I might not know my orders, but I know my purpose and I know who and what I serve.  The wonderful thing about that song, "Breathe' is that for as long as I live I don't have to do anything in order to breathe.  And if anxiety hits, all I have to is be aware of breath and breathing as I embrace the moment before me and enter into it.