Becoming Lonely to Breathe

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. (Dan 6:10)

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:15-16)

I use to think that prayer was a task to be done on a checklist. Now I'm seeing it is more like breathing.

When you can't breath, you struggle and fight for air. The body goes into panic mode.

When you get plenty of fresh oxygen, it's almost like a high. The body can relax and rest.

That makes me think about people with deviated septums and nasal cavity problems. For most of their lives, they experience all sorts of problems related to not being able to breathe properly, but until a doctor tells them what's happening, they don't know the source. What a relief it must be for those people to take in a full breath of unhindered air for the first time....Like finally finishing a tough race or catching that prize winning fish or making the last second three pointer to win the game.

I love how Jesus' prayers for miraculous events were so short. He didn't need to beg and plead with God. He didn't pretend to have influence with the Lord like so many are in the habit of doing. He really KNEW God, because he breathed his relationship with the Father.