Breathing in a Smoking Section

Breathe. Just breathe.

He squirms in my lap, itching to tear off the mask. I could tell him he looks like one of those Air Force jet pilots...but that means nothing to him. Instead, he is like Thomas, his favorite train.

"Ten more minutes, Emerson. You have to stay still."

Amelia sits inches away on the couch--she is envious, wanting it to be her turn. "Emerson have smoke? It hot? I touch it?"

After four days of breathing treatments, his exhales are stronger, circling cool tendrils of white vapor upwards through my hair and above my face.

During the first treatment, I fearfully sat in the doctor's office, listening to each halting breath and then waiting through the long pause. It's not that my son was refusing to take another breath of healing medicine but merely that his lungs were filled with fluid, making the simple act of breathing difficult.

This Valentines Day, the treasure of celebrating the gift of a single breath has brought my focus on the One who has given my child that gift... not just him, but me also.

When God first breathed life into that newly formed body of dust, that breath was not composed of mere oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules or even medicine, for that breath held life, itself. And in that instant, dust became a thinking, reasoning, passionate, loving being.

In that breath, God breathed Himself into man.

Although the trappings of Valentines Day may not be God-created, love definitely is.

Our household has anticipated this holiday literally since the day after Christmas when our seasonal decorations celebrating Christ's birth came down and our decorations giving thanks for God's unfailing love took their place.

This Valentines season is a time for remembering our loving commitments to our spouses.
A time for showing love to those small breaths that have been entrusted to us.A time for remembering the past and those loved ones who are no longer with us.I give thanks to Him who has granted me the ability to love, to the One who is love, Himself.

Photos: our living room mantle; my wedding bouquet; Amelia seeing her Valentine from mommy; our Valentines' tree decorated with images of vintage valentines.