14: The Gift of Water

In November 2019, Disney released Disney+, their on-demand streaming service. I was so excited to have access to all the classic movies I grew up watching, plus some new originals. One of those new originals was a documentary called “Elephant.” I typically enjoy nature documentaries, but I’m not usually counting down the days until they release. However, this particular documentary was narrated by none other than Meghan Markle, and as someone slightly obsessed with the British royal family, you better believe I had April 3, 2020 marked on my calendar. Disney+’s game so far is strong.

So, of course, I watched it, and the documentary follows a family of elephants - Gaia, Shani, and baby Jomo - traveling across Southern African terrain in search of an adequate water source. Their home was experiencing a drought, so they needed to find water some way, some how. Throughout the documentary, they travel 1,000 miles and experience all kinds of adversity  along the way. They know they can’t survive in a dry, drought-ridden place, so they embark on the incredible journey of their elephant ancestors, driven by their thirst.

Really, the basic storyline isn't much different from other similar nature documentaries I’ve seen. At a instinctual level, animals know they need water to survive, so their whereabouts are usually dictated by whether or not water is available. As humans, we also know this to be true. Our bodies need adequate water to survive. Dehydration is something we want to avoid and our physical health is often dictated by whether or not we drink enough water. Water is a literal, physical, lifeline. 

But while we tend to associate water with drinking the recommended amount and staying physically hydrated, I’ve also become aware of research thats suggests water is necessary for more than just internal hydration. Water also has significant benefits for our mental and emotional health. Our brains have actual positive physical reactions while engaging with water. And really, I’m not all that surprised.

I picked up a book that piqued my interest recently called Blue Mind,  and in it, researcher Wallace Nichols shares several recent studies in which water acts as a key healing component  for those suffering from PTSD, addiction, and depression, just to name a few. He found that regularly engaging in an activity like surfing, fishing, boating, swimming, even bathing in a tub, or for some simply being able to see and hear the water, significantly contributed to their ability to cope, to heal, and just to their overall mental well-being.

And that connection runs even deeper still, even beyond the research. Nichols writes,

“For me, and for millions of people everywhere, the best and biggest benefits of water are all emotional (provided we are sufficiently internally hydrated). We love being in, on, under, around, or near it. We plan our vacations to spend time with water, and dream of the next chance we can get to jump on a surfboard or into a boat, visit a beach or lakeside or urban pool, or even slip into a bath tub or hot tub at the end of a long day. Try as we might, no amount of scientific data, fMRI scans, EEG readings, or carefully designed research projects can really show us exactly what we feel at those moments.”

As you probably realize, water is our lifeline, in more ways than one. 

I don’t know about you, but I definitely resonate with Nichol’s research. For me there’s something about being BY the water, IN the water, or even just HEARING water, that calms me down. That grounds me. That redirects my thought process and helps me believe that it is not, in fact, the end of the world. It’s in the sound of the rain. The rhythm of the ocean waves. The lightness I feel while swimming, the quiet I hear when I’m beneath the surface, the peace I experience next to a rushing river or in the release of my very own tears. There’s something about water that frees us from the burdens we carry. As Jacques Cousteau once said,

“From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.” 

It’s no wonder, then, that water also flows through the pages of Scripture. That our connection to water also informs our faith. Water is mentioned hundreds and hundreds of times in fact, and God is often compared to or referred to as Living Water. The Living Water found in Scripture brings life, peace, contentment, redemption and assurance. In the same way we physically need water to live, and in the same way proximity to water benefits our overall well-being, we are intentionally sustained to our core by the Living Water found in Jesus. 

And yet, if I’m honest, right now I feel completely drained. And I imagine that maybe you do, too. After all, we’re over halfway through 2020. Need I say more? But it IS more, or it can be. 2020 aside, certain aspects of life drain us. Loss. Disappointment. Uncertainty. Anxiety. Burdens. Brokenness. Shame. Injustice. Strained relationships. They all exist beyond the confines of a calendar year. And today, I find myself resonating with the words of the psalmist from Psalm 42. Listen now for the Word of the Lord:

1 

As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

2 

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and behold

the face of God?

3 

My tears have been my food

day and night,

while people say to me continually,

“Where is your God?”

4 

These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng,[a]

and led them in procession to the house of God,

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

a multitude keeping festival.

5 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my help 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;

therefore I remember you

7 

Deep calls to deep

In the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and your billows

have gone over me.

8 

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

 and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

9 

I say to God, my rock,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I walk about mournfully

because the enemy oppresses me?”

10 

As with a deadly wound in my body,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me continually,

“Where is your God?”

11 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my help and my God.

Not too long ago, Brad and I were catching up with a couple friends over Zoom. And toward the end of our time together, our friends asked us how they could be praying for each of us. My initial thought was, “Well, gosh, let me count the ways…” as I racked my brain trying to pick just one thing. But Brad summed it up perfectly:

“Pray that God would continue to sustain me.”

That was it. That was the prayer. And that is the prayer I have continued to pray each day since. Whether it’s unexpected, or as we spend time in Scripture, as we pray, as we worship, as we serve, my prayer is that the presence of God that’s promised would flood our weary hearts and sustain us. 

That when our souls are cast down, the tide of God’s Living Water would rise, uplift, and refresh.

That as we long for even just a trickle more compassion, understanding, justice and unity, the waves of God’s Living Water would roll in and quench our thirst. 

That when fear, anxiety, or heartache burn within, the peace of God’s Living water would wash over, quelling them all.

My prayer is that we would remember and rest in the depth of God’s goodness and love.

Today, if you feel drained, remember that God’s Living Water, God’s promised presence, sustains. May we draw abundantly from its well as we seek to be part of it’s ripple effect in our world.