And our increasing wholeness glorifies and honors the One who, out of perfect love, created us to be whole. The problem is that neither our culture nor our churches consistently encourage genuine balance. Christians should be able to look to church leaders for inspired models of a whole and holy life. Yet those of us in leadership roles are often precisely those who feel least permission to develop healthy, balanced lifestyles. As with all else in the spiritual life, we can only begin by receiving.
Breathing is the most palpable rhythm of our physical life.
It affects and is affected by every other rhythm, including our heartbeat. We know what would happen if we favored one side of the rhythm over the other. Yet when it comes to rhythms of work in relation to other aspects of our life, or rhythms of inward and outward expression, we are culturally and ecclesially biased toward one side of the pattern. Suppose that breathing in represents solitude, silence, listening, waiting, resting, and receiving, and breathing out represents community, speech, movement, action, work, and giving. On the whole, Western culture lives breathlessly.