I have been missing the mountains of Colorado SO MUCH lately, and it has been almost painful to think about. I miss driving up the windy roads in canyons and the satisfaction in achievement when you reach a mountain’s peak. No, even simpler, I miss the air that I am going to be breathing in soon, and the freshness that it brings. Literally, the second I step foot in Denver, my lungs might rupture with the amount I will try in inhale.
My teammate, Carly, had the team do this writing exercise the other night during team time where we picked one thing that we love and had to write about why we love it for an entire sentence. We were to link thoughts and ideas together, trying to make our sentence go on as long as we could. And this is what I wrote about the mountains – I love the mountains because of the crisp air that fills my lungs with each inhale, reminding me of the dependence I have on the oxygen laced with, just like my dependence on the Holy Spirit that fills me with refreshing life but sometimes stings with the coolness that it brings because it is the best Spirit I can breathe in and the only Spirit that will bring joy, love, and peace with each inhale. 
While I was discussing my longing for the mountains this morning with Jesus, I started to get real defensive with Him because he was comparing his Spirit with the fresh and coolness of the mountain air, and I didn’t want anything to be in that category of sweetness! I desire the cool autumn air mixed with the view of turning aspens… and was so resistant in allowing him to be compared with that goodness. It was super weird how defensive and reluctant I felt in allowing these two things to be similar. So as I felt reserved and unwilling to let the Holy Spirit in the mountain air category this morning, he told me to go back and read what I wrote about the mountains.
During my quiet time, and like the last three mornings spent with Jesus, he has played Needtobreathe songs back to back while my whole ipod has been on shuffle. I joked about it with Elizabeth and she replied, “Ha, well maybe you need to breathe.” Jesus needed to dumb it down that much… and that is what spurred his and I’s conversation about the crisp mountain air that I am longing for. He knows that longing in my heart. He also knows that I desperately long for him and his cool freshness… to fill my lungs with all the life that I crave and need… even when I don’t recognize it.
He asked me to write again what I love and I wrote this – I love the Colorado mountains because of the crisp, cool air that fills my lungs with each inhale aligning with the brilliant and beautiful view set before my eyes, all reminding me of the clarity in vision and need of the splendor that surrounds and swirls between us, feeding more in my understanding of my dependence on God’s Holy Spirit that I need to breathe in, just the same as this cool mountain air, to fill my core with freshness, coolness and a clarity that can only come from him because he fills me to a deeper level than any air that I can rely on. He is there, swirling around, in and out of my soul, just like the beauty that has been hand crafted all around me on this mountain top, reminding me of the Sovereignty of my Lord, and his deep, unfailing love for all of his children, especially me as his favorite daughter, knowing that this morning I would be standing on top of this peak, drinking in the view set before me and breathing in the oxygen stirred into the fresh air, just as his Spirit has infected my surroundings, pulling me constantly into a deeper appreciate of the abundant life he has to offer with each inhale and exhale. I breathe in what he breathes out.
Then I allowed my spirit to submit to His Greatness. I need him. There is no coincidence that I have been longing for the mountains of Colorado and their air, and there is no coincidence that Needtobreathe has been playing over and over on my ipod.… I long for that sweetness just like my spirit is longing for the Holy Spirit. To breathe him in and let him satisfy the deep desires that I can’t always articulate – but He knows.
