When the Wind is Knocked Out of You

There is that split-second that seems to last for eons. It feels like you might die in full awareness of the fact. And yet, there is an equally-weighted thought, fully conscious, that you are going to live, this is just the momentary result of a powerful and unexpected blow that hit you in just the right spot to stop your breath for just those few seconds.

And then you breathe again,
and then you feel again,
and if it's right, you'll feel happy that you lived and  slightly silly for ever thinking something so short-lived could kill you.

The tradeoffs of one moment folding into the next is the joy and the tragedy of this temporal life we're living.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up; 

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, ESV)

Bear with me as I catch my breath, friends. "It takes time to come clean, and I know it's time..."