When a new baby emerges from their mother there is this moment where the world stops and holds its breath seemingly, waiting for the baby to take its first breath. Typically, this is quickly followed by a cry of dismay at the changes and immense discomfort from being pulled from home to a new world. How bright and brilliant that moment is! While this pause is in the hearts of those watching life emerge miraculously, the moment that an infant takes its first breath changes the heart structure forever. That first breath transitions the infant from being dependent on mother’s blood for oxygen to being able to bring air into their own lungs and heart. The heart changes structurally, closing off paths and opening new ones. Sometimes this change doesn’t happen all at once and can cause the baby to have a struggle to survive unless someone is able to repair these open paths. 

When I had Nisseem this moment of pause was filled with awe and joy unspeakable. A healthy new life! When I had Raphael the moment lasted far too long and the silence was deafening. Raphael didn’t breathe on his own for several days and while the medical staff worked to save him I lay helpless listening. That silence. There is nothing like that. I knew what that silence meant and while I knew I trusted. 

For thus said my Lord God, The Holy One of Israel, “You shall triumph by stillness as quiet; your victory shall come about through calm and confidence” Is 30:15

His victory arises in the calm, confident, silence. The beginning of human life was not the formation of the body, but the breath of God into Adam, that moment he became life from the dust. 

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.  Gen 2:7

Adam took that first breath as man from God Himself. God’s breath was life. Adam went from a silent inanimate to living in a breath. A breath of God changed everything. Is it any wonder that Jesus breathed on His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit? 

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit

 John 20: 21-22

Christmas was a moment where we collectively waited in the silence, humanity as a whole, waiting for this little tiny babe to take His first breath and cry out that He is here. He is with us. His breath then means my heart can be transformed anew. Allowing for me to be dependent on Him and no one else. His breath opened up the heart’s pathways for us to live. His breath gave us hope to be transformed from inanimate to living. That we may have life and have it more abundantly. All of those who have yet to take that breath struggle to make do with mixed up hearts. In Him we take a different kind of first breath, a first breath that changed our hearts and brought in His Spirit. Those moments when heaven stands on tiptoe and pauses to listen to the newly born cry out in joy at being brought into the embrace of the Father. Sometimes we have to wait for those first breaths and sometimes the silence weighs so heavy that we might give up. Some of us breathe in easily and joyfully, but some of us need more time and help. This Christmas we mark those moments of silence, where we wait upon Him and take a breath long and deep. How thankful we are that we breathe in Him, to celebrate His victory in the stillness with remade hearts. 

With Love, 

  Angela Abraham