Clean Water

 

Today the forecast was right, and the promised rains have come. Sheets of water drop from the sky and are driven by the wind. The thirsty ground drinks it in greedily, gratefully.

We noticed fields of grain as we drove back from Lunan Bay the other day. Fields of grain which looked stunted. They hadn’t had the water they needed as they grew, and though they were warmly golden in the sunshine, they had not developed to their full potential before maturing, before ripening.

I’ve just read the annual report from Signpost International, based in Dundee. One of their projects focused on providing clean water for an area of Uganda where children were deprived of valuable learning time because they needed to walk for hours to find drinking water. In Uganda, 51% of the population has no access to clean water, and drinking dirty water causes illness and even death, but also contributes to the country’s high levels of stunting. Stunting is not simply physical, but also affects cognitive development.

Like the stunted grain, once children pass a certain point of development, the clean water is welcome but comes too late to counter the arrested flowering of potential and promise.

Something so basic as water. I am the water of life, Jesus declared, and if we go to him, our spiritual thirst is slaked and we are nurtured and supplied with all we need to be the people he created us to be.

I had a challenging day yesterday. I could feel my spiritual tongue hanging out, dry and cracked, and I headed out into nature. I knew that I would meet with my Lord as I walked in his creation, and that I would be open and receptive to his restorative watering. An hour later, I returned home, a new creation, refreshed and strengthened.

Nothing had changed except my attitude. How grateful I am to live in a place where I have such ready access to a thin place, a touching point with our loving Creator God, who gives me water which bubbles up to eternal life.

Even as I am grateful for this spiritual water, may I be aware and active in doing what I can to help those who are deprived of clean water, both physical and spiritual.