Day 25: Water, Water Everywhere, but Not a Drop to Drink

John 4:14: (NIV) “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

One of the most precious commodities on a ship is fresh water. The ship is equipped with evaporator machines that make fresh water for the entire ship. We use this fresh water for everything from cooking to cleaning. We also need fresh water to feed our boilers to make steam. Steam propels our ship and fuels the catapults that lunch our planes. As you can imagine, on a ship with 5,200 people, water can sometimes run low. When this occurs, the ship is placed on water restriction. Laundries are shut down, the scullery is closed, and water for bathing is limited. This can cause quite a stir. The paradox is that water is all around us. We traverse the ocean, but none of this is fit to drink without going through our evaporator machines.

The woman at the well in the fourth chapter of John came to collect water. After all, she had a need familiar to us all. She was thirsty. She carried with her buckets to gather this precious liquid. Jesus introduced her to another kind of water, the kind that, if consumed, would quench her thirst forever. With water from a well in abundance, she still needed water from the Lord. She had, as well, the vessel to collect this special water from the Savior: her soul. Let us pray:

Give us this water from heaven; we need it more than the kind we physically drink.
We need it especially when our hope, our spiritual fortunes, appear to sink.
Fill me with this sacred liquid that my hope in you may soar,
So when asked by life: are you thirsty? I say: I once was but now no more.

Questions to Consider:

• When was the last time you drank from the fountain that will never run dry?
• How did you react?
• Can we offer others access to this water? If not, why?

Reflection for the Day:

• Consider the joy of being filled with spiritual water. Counterbalance that with being thirsty…spiritually.