Water, water everywhere

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink. My Dad used to quote that line from Coleridge’s Rime of the  Ancient Mariner, and it always echoes in my mind when the rain falls as it has here over the last few days, puddling and flooding fields all around us.

As we approach Thanksgiving, though, I think with gratitude that yes, there is water everywhere here, and there is lots of clean water to drink.

The basis of life, denied to so many across the globe where fires rage in drought-stricken lands, or where annual rainfall has reduced and whole populations ration what water there is.

I will give you water that bubbles up from within, Jesus said to the woman at the well, a woman whose life was parched in more than a physical way. Jesus saw her deep need for soul-drenching refreshment. He sees our deep need for the same thing, whether we are richly blessed with rainfall or not. The drought of our souls does not reflect the amount of water in reservoirs or wells. It is consequent to the frenetic pace, the immersion in a materialist world, the pressure to achieve and acquire.

You will never thirst, Jesus promises. All we have to do is come to the source of the water and drink deeply.