Breathe Easy, My People
A psalm of comfort, based on Isaiah 40
Breathe easy, breathe easy, my people,
says your God.
Let your body relax and release.
Let your hearts unclench.
Speak gently to the wounded places.
Tell them the long night is ending.
Tell them the weight they’ve carried
is not theirs forever.
The debt of shame is finished.
The season of struggle is giving way to grace.
A voice calls out in the emptiness:
Clear a path for God to come near.
Make room in the hard places.
Straighten what has been bent by fear.
Even the wilderness will become a road
where love can travel freely.
The low places will be lifted.
The towering obstacles will soften.
What is jagged will be smoothed.
What feels impossible will become passable.
Nothing is too broken to be restored.
Another voice says, “Speak hope.”
And we ask, “What hope is there?”
We are fragile
here today, gone tomorrow,
like grass that fades,
like flowers that wither in the heat.
Yes, everything human is temporary.
But God’s promise outlasts every season.
Love remains when everything else lets go.
So do not be afraid.
Lift your voice, even if it trembles.
Say to every hurting place,
every waiting heart:
Here is your God.
God gathers us like a shepherd
pulling the smallest close,
holding the vulnerable against a steady heart.
God moves gently with those carrying life,
with those who are tired of being strong.
Have you forgotten?
Have you not heard?
This story has been whispered
since the beginning of time.
Look up.
Really look.
The stars are not random
each one known, each one named.
Not a single shimmer is lost to God’s care.
The Holy One does not burn out.
God does not collapse under the weight of the world.
There is no end to this wisdom,
no limit to this strength.
God pours strength into empty hands
and breath into exhausted lungs.
Even the young stumble.
Even the strong falter.
Even those who once ran ahead
find themselves slowing down.
But those who lean into God
those who trust instead of striving
will rise again.
They will find new breath.
They will lift off when they thought they were grounded.
They will keep going when they expected to stop.
They will walk forward,
held by hope,
and they will not be overcome.
Jenni Krall is a Diaconal Ministry student in her final year of studies at CCS.
