Pathways Press.com

Written by Morgan Harper Nichols, a contemporary musician, songwriter, mixed-media artist, and writer.  This is an excerpt from her book “All Along You Were Blooming.”

Never underestimate the power of an exhale.

There will be some nights
where you will look up and lose track of all the stars you see,
and there will be some nights
you can’t lift your head,
but in both
of those nights
and every other
night in between,
you are strongest
when you take
the time to breathe.

It takes courage
to live through heartbreak. Breathing is no small feat.

When you find yourself falling into the pit of anxiety, remember the ladder of hope that reminds you there is no reason to be afraid. There is still a way out of this, and you are still capable — not perfect, but capable — and you have permission to try to climb again. Even if your hands shake, and your knees are weaker from the fall, you can still trade your fears of tomorrow with hope for today: the courageous decision to climb on anyway out of the pit of anxious thoughts.

There is no reason to live afraid.

To breathe is brave.

There will be times when the last thing you want to do is hear

that you have
to keep going.
The last thing
you will want to do is feel

you have to keep pushing.

Let the breaths leaving your body second by second remind you

how seconds soon turn into minutes, and these minutes soon turn into hours and hours

then turn into days
and even though you once thought
you were stagnant,
you have made it
a miraculously long way through the darkness.

Prayer:

Written by Augustine of Hippo (354-430), an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern day Annaba, Algeria) and is viewed as one of the most important church fathers in Western Christianity.

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.

Guard me, O Holy Spirit, that I myself may always be holy. Amen.