Breathe

The majesty of Colorado.   

The beauty of being able to draw a breath. Those two things don’t always go together. As a child and teenager I struggled with asthma, which manifests itself still today as bronchitis. Typically triggered by an allergic reaction (grass or cigarette smoke), I followed a pattern of laryngitis, sinusitis, acute then chronic bronchitis. Not breathing well could be my baseline for weeks, maybe months. Not being able to catch my breath was common. When you combine that with a love of the outdoors, including winter activities only done at snowy, high altitudes, I do understand what it means to have your “breath taken away.”

But it is so much more glorious to have your breath taken away by the things of beauty in our world. Like the Colorado mountains. They are glorious in the summer, radiant in the fall and simply majestic in the winter. Even now, when I have dramatically increased my breathing capacity through running and exercise, the beauty of it all captures my breath in that glorious way. Things of beauty, magnificence, glory surround us each and every day. The trees are beginning to bud. Flowers are starting to poke their heads up through the winter soil. It is the blissful emergence of creation. You need to stop, take notice and breathe.