Sigh… // Psalm 94:19

I always take solace whenever I see this verse for the day appear: “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” I spent time in the past describing how consolation in this sense doesn’t mean a runner’s up prize, but comfort. I went into the original Hebrew for this verse and found something fascinating. The word for consolation also can refer to a sigh.

I tend to sigh a good bit. Tiffany knows something is up when I do. Sighing isn’t just an emotional response, but also has physical benefits. Have you ever experienced your breathing becoming more rapid and shallow when under stress? It’s part of our fight-or-flight mechanism. Rapid and shallow breathing means that our alveoli (or the tiny air sacks throughout our lungs) aren’t able to totally re-inflate. Sighing causes to take in a deep breath and then expel it, helping us to complete the essential gaseous exchange in our lungs which give us the gift of life. It is an exchange, so-to-speak — and not just oxygen to carbon dioxide — but can also exchange stress for peace.

The Old Testament also refers to this kind of life-giving breath with the word, ruach, translating to Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s breath that enters our lives, inflates the part of us that shrink under stress, and exchange stress for peace, hope for despair, and death for life.

So, next time you feel yourself overwhelmed and you feel a sigh coming on, why not let it out, but follow it up with several deep breaths. Allow God’s Spirit to penetrate those parts of you that feel deflated, exchange what’s spent for what’s spiritual, and bring you the comfort you need.