I am thankful for water

I have lived near water for most of my life but I rarely had to think about it. That was until I moved to San Antonio. While not a desert, it is a place where people text each other when it rains on their block. We watch the evening news to learn how high water is in the Edward’s Aquifer and our current water use restriction.

The Bible has a lot to say about water. There are 500 references to water not including rivers, rains, wells, floods, seas and storms. Mary’s water broke and Jesus was born. Water came out of Jesus’ pierced side and he was dead. The Hebrews crossed the Red Sea into a new life. We are baptized as a symbol of our new life. God destroyed the world with a flood. Jesus told the woman at the well that he gives us Living Water.

Water is a big deal. Our bodies are 70% water. The surface of our planet is 71% water. However, 97% is in the oceans. Only 3% of earth’s water is fresh (not salty) but only 0.5% of it is accessible. So, 2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil. Some is highly polluted or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost.

One out three people in the world do not have access to clean water. On the other hand, the average American family uses 300 gallons of water per day. FEMA recommends that, in an emergency, each person will need one gallon of water per day. We use 3 gallons of water when we brush our teeth with the water running. That’s three days of water by FEMA’s calculation.

Water is essential for all life and is one of God’s gifts to all humanity. We ought to consume it with thanksgiving and be mindful of those who lack it. The simple act of not letting the water run while we brush our teeth can be one small way we can show our gratitude for this precious resource.

Water Holds Life and Death

We prayed for rain at my first prayer meeting in San Antonio. I soon learned that water is serious business in South Texas. Drought magnifies the knowledge of our reliance on God for all things. Even for water, a substance so abundant that it covers 71% of the earth's surface. However, like most things, water is not evenly distributed. In San Antonio rain generates as many tweets and texts as a Spurs win.

Conservationist, Andrew Sansom, Executive Director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, reminds us that, while most of us get clean water from a tap, it is not so easy for others. On a global scale, a woman will walk an average of nine miles daily to get water for her family. The water itself can be of questionable quality. Every 20 seconds someone in the world will die from a waterborne illness.

Sanson says that, in Texas, there is a tension between environmental protection and economic development related to urban growth. Part of the problem is that the majority of the population lives in urban areas and lacks a spiritual connection to water. They have rarely seen it in the “wild” nor have suffered from it's scarcity.

Water is essential to life. It composes 57% of the human body. We could not live more than five days without. We seek it in space as a sign of extra-terrestrial life. Yet, we fail to show it appropriate honor.

Professor David Jensen (Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary), provides a theological perspective on water. He points out that water is present at creation. God's activity made it useful.

In the Genesis flood we see the destructive power of water. We see it again in the parting of the Red Sea. In both cases one's relationship to God made the difference between life and death.

Through the act of baptism, Christians use water to symbolize the death of the old self and rebirth.

Water has some awesome qualities that point to God. These include the vastness of the oceans, the pristine stillness of a mountain lake and power of a white water river. At the micro level, water is found in every living cell.

Jesus identified himself with life giving water. He said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)

Water is a source of blessing. Jesus said that giving water to the thirsty was ministry to Himself and that a cup of cold water given to a disciple shall be rewarded.

It is difficult to be thankful for something that seems as abundant as air but, if we are mindful of the scarcity of clean water for some people and the power of life and death that water caries, we can drink to our health with gratitude.