“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6
It is rare, within the hospital setting, to work with the same patients multiple days in a row. Nursing assignments change based on acuities, staffing ratios vary, patients change units, and nurses typically only work two or three days in a row, so the continuity ends eventually. And not only is it not likely to work with the same patients, it’s not even likely that you will see the same patients without some intentionality due to the private rooms.
However, here in the field hospital, we are working with the same patients every day and that has been something that I have truly enjoyed. Though we have curtains separating one room from another, the nurses get to see every patient every day, even if it’s just to say good morning or to check in throughout the day.
This morning, I returned to a patient who had been on a BiPAP machine for the past day or so. For those of you who don’t know, let’s just say that the BiPAP is not the most comfortable machine in the world. It involves a tight-fitting mask around the mouth and nose, through which the machine assists the patient in breathing by providing different pressures for each cycle of the breath.
Early on in the shift, I was given the go-ahead to switch the patient from the BiPAP to a more comfortable option, if he could tolerate it by maintaining his oxygen levels. Knowing that the patient was eager to make the jump, I informed him of the plan and shortly thereafter, found myself at his beside, ready to make the change. We quickly made the swap, and then I watched his numbers drop due to the moments in between devices. As I began to percuss his back, something we do to help our COVID patients and to bring up their oxygenation levels, I begin to talk to God. With the background noise of the breathing machines and the pitter-patter of my hands, I lifted this man’s recovery to the Lord in prayer. When I looked back at the monitor, his numbers were approaching our target range and before long we were there. What relief.
“You’re at 92 percent”, I told him.
“Oh, I praise the Lord”, he replied.
I smiled beneath my mask, “ you and I both.”
In that moment, it became so evident that though I was praying in silence, I hadn’t been praying alone. “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). The numbers on the monitor undeniably brought relief to my patient and myself, but the obvious presence of the Lord revealed an even greater peace to the situation.
As our shift was winding down tonight, I was again percussing the same patient’s back, when a song came on our speaker.
“It’s your breath in our lungs.
So we pour out our praise,
we pour out our praise.
It’s your breath in our lungs,
so we pour out our praise to you only.”
A smile stretched across my face as I asked the patient if he could hear the music. The amount of peace that flowed through that patient’s voice in his one word confirmation was such a beautiful ending to the day. I couldn’t help but realize that this man, who was struggling to breath, was using the breath that he had to praise the Lord.
Tonight, as I sit here and reflect on this experience, I am reminded that God is the giver of breath. Acts 17:25 says, “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
Take a moment to meditate on the verse. God gives life AND breath AND everything to everyone and did you catch that first part? He doesn’t need a thing. The passions translation says it like this, “He doesn’t lack a thing that we mortals could supply for him, for he has all things and everything he needs.” Breath is one more item on the list of free gifts from God.
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). God literally gives us the breath of life. Stop right now and take a moment to appreciate your ability and capability to breath. I have seen patient after patient anxious and afraid. Why? Because they cannot breath. Breathing, this gift from God, is something that we can easily take for granted every single day, yet it is also something that we seemingly have in abundance… until we don’t.
I have been both encouraged and challenged. Today, I looked into the eyes of a man that is praising God with the breath that he has, though it is threatened and limited. What am I doing with the abundance of my gift of breath? What are you doing with your abundance of breath?
Even in the midst of trials and tribulations, Job said, “..as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies…” (27:3-4) Whether in the valley or on the mountain tops, what more could we do than to praise the Giver of the breath in our lungs?
Don’t waste the precious gift you’ve been given today. Praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
