She
was 32 and was having her third child, or she was a teenager and having her
first child. Depending on whom you think about when you hear Amy Grant’s and
Chris Eaton’s collaborative effort “Breath of Heaven”, you might picture Amy on
stage as she sang and recorded this song, or maybe it’s the young girl she
would want you to see – Mary, the mother of God the Son. They’re 21 centuries
apart, but both have known what it’s like to carry a life inside herself. In
1992, Grant heard the song by Eaton and knew she identified with it, albeit
with some revisions. Her own pregnancy, her third with a daughter Sarah, was a
gift, so in that way, she and Mary had something in common.
The
story of the song’s development can be told no better than to read it at this
link: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=14730
It’s
about Mary’s emotions as she was near the time to give birth to the
Christ-child. The chorus calls upon God as the ‘breath of heaven’, not
something we hear very often (but pictured here in Corrado Giaquinto’s 18th
Century The Holy Spirit masterpiece).
Is that what it’s like to carry life inside oneself, to feel that you’ve been
breathed upon by the very holiness of Him? Believers have the Spirit as a gift,
but so often it’s not that tangible, to be quite frank. But with an actual,
physical, small life growing inside, that’s another matter. And, to know that, ultimately,
He gives life, changes how a young woman might think too. After all, isn’t that
part of why we humans consider childbirth so important, that He’s given us
something precious? In Mary’s case, her sense of responsibility in bringing the
baby in her womb into the world is certainly unique. So, perhaps it takes a
woman who has borne life to come part of the way to connect with Mary. It was
her third time, so maybe Amy Grant reached out with her accumulated child-bearing
experience in this endeavor in 1992.
The
song by Grant and Eaton has served more than one purpose. Grant thinks of it as
a prayer for mercy, as she explains in the 2001 book by the same name that she’s
authored. It seems to make her reflect on how she connects with the audiences
who gather to hear her sing, about how to pray for the masses who need God’s leniency.
And, the song is also part of the 2006 movie The Nativity Story, whose screenwriter says he used the
song at the start of each day for inspiration while writing the film’s
screenplay. A song, a movie, and a book…how many other media might we try to
get a handle on God’s breath, this Holy Spirit? Could working in a hospital maternity
ward be another medium to get me closer to understanding how God breathes life
into human form? How about working for His purpose wherever I am, asking to
sense His work in me? Being with other believers, feeling the collaborative,
collective surge of worship, is another way we make our small effort to find
the breath of heaven, right? At Christmastime, reading, hearing, and seeing the
birth story just reminds us that He really
inhabits people, and something amazing did happen – and still does happen -- as
a result. Hey, did you just take a breath…or was that Him?
The following link also shows all of the verses and chorus
of the song:
See links here for biography of the composers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Eaton_%28UK_musician%29
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