Water, Water, Everywhere

Everything seems to be about water…

Water – Not enough: On the news we’re told that because of the dry spring, some farmers’ crops haven’t developed as they should… there’s a hosepipe ban in some parts of the country… our gardens are dry…

Yesterday at church Alan talked about Psalm 42: ‘As the deer thirsts for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you, O God.’ It’s about a spiritual drought, a thirst… a longing for meaning and purpose… that Psalm 42 says can be satisfied by God.

Water – Too much: Earlier in the month there was the tragic story of the local teenage lad who jumped into the River Waveney at Beccles and drowned…

Psalm 42 continues, describing waves and breakers sweeping over me. I chatted yesterday to folks who are struggling… a mum concerned about her daughters, a woman with an eating disorder, a man stressed about his work situation… fearing they might go under and drown.

Water – Polluted: Our Lowestoft Journal tells us: ‘Beaches declared safe for swimming as pollution risk removed’. Previously there had warning signs: ‘A sewage alert had sparked the Environmental Agency to issue a pollution warning…’

Remembering ‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink’, from Coleridge’s ‘The Ancient Mariner’. He’s at sea, surrounded by water, but can’t drink it. I checked it out. The actual quote ends ‘nor any drop to drink.’

I’m frequently reminded of youngsters, drinking, tasting, polluted by drugs, violence, porn, alcohol…

Water – Beneficial: Looking out the window… It’s raining. Flowers and vegetables are flourishing in our garden, a pigeon is bathing and drinking in our pond, the grass is looking greener…

This morning I read Ezekiel 47… The River of Life… Fish live in it, fruit trees flourish beside it… The image starts in Genesis’ Garden of Eden and ends in Revelation’s Holy City…

Jesus met a woman who had drunk polluted water, and was thirsty for spiritual water. He said: ‘Whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst…’