I don't want to be a haole

My time alone with God is fairly consistent. It is a habit. But consistency does not always mean it is earth shattering. In fact lately it has had a rhythm; kind of a routine – like brushing my teeth and taking a shower and getting dressed and going to work. It has been gray rather than being vibrantly colorful. My goal in meeting with God is to experience the transcendent. To exist in His presence.

I finished the book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle. It has been a great book and I’ve taken it slow, as one would eat a rich meal, one small bite at a time to make it last and savor the flavor. In it I found an insight into my time alone with God.

L’Engle writes of speaking at University of Hawaii:

In my commonplace book I’ve copied down the words of a Hawaiian Christian, Mother Alice Koholusuna:

"Before the missionaries came, my people used to sit outside their temples for a long time meditating and preparing themselves before entering. Then they would virtually creep to the altar to offer their petition and afterwards would again sit a long time outside, this time to “breathe life” into their prayers. The Christians, when they came, just got up, uttered a few sentences, said Amen, and were done. For that reason my people called the haoles, “without breath,” or those who failed to breathe life into their prayers."

I am afraid I have been a haole. I have been “without breath”.

It's interesting to me that both breath and spirit are used interchangeably in the Bible - as "ruah" in the Old Testament and as "pneuma" in the New Testament. To be “without breath” could be that I am not connecting with the spiritual.

This morning as I ran I paid close attention to my breath, how the act of breathing was to inhale and take in God and to exhale and eliminate the poison inside of me.

I don’t want to be a haole. I don’t want to be without breath.

the Lord God formed the 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