“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;”
– Isaiah 55:1
I carry water with me wherever I go.
I used to drink 4-6 glasses a day on a good day.
Now my goal is 11 – 12 which I achieve most days.
I just turned 60 so I’m trying to give my body all the help it needs,
which is a lot more than it needed at 40. (Heavy sigh.)
Water makes a difference…
it makes all of our systems work more efficiently.
Water normalizes blood pressure, stabilizes heartbeats, protects organs and tissues,
aids digestion, cushions joints, and carries nutrients and oxygen to our cells. (health.harvard.edu)
To be healthier, to be better able to live and move in this world, to maximize my abilities
to serve and function and navigate life…I carry water with me wherever I go
I carry water with me wherever I go, and not just in my 32 ounce container.
The waters of baptism are also and thankfully ever present.
Those waters too make all the difference in how I move in and through
this ever-changing and often challenging world.
In the midst of the surprises and disruptions, those waters, thanks be to God, are a constant.
Those waters replenish in me my true identity…who I am and Whose I am.
Those waters are a great help in these thirsty days.
Those waters are a great help in these hungering days.
Dehydration causes confusion. Dehydration causes fatigue.
Dehydration causes fainting and the loss of flexibility.
Dehydration makes it harder to think, harder to move, harder to stand.
Remembering the waters of baptism,
trusting the washing and the filling,
drinking deep of God’s claim and name and call upon our lives,
is the only way we can possibly begin to
reject the evil powers at work within and without us,
the only way we can live into the grace given freedom and power to resist injustice and oppression,
the only way to wholly trust in God’s grace and faithfully live out our promise
to serve Christ as Lord in unity with all.
And yet…knowing the good of water, we forget the power, or we choose not to remember.
We are like the Kathy Mattea song Standing Knee Deep In A River Dying of Thirst.
God through the prophet Isaiah reminds us to come thirsty, to come hungry, to come in our neediness even if we feel that we have nothing to bring. In fact, the invitation seems directed more at those who know they have nothing of their own to secure what they need.
Praise the Lord!
God calls us in our emptiness in order to fill us with Godself!
“Listen that you may live” God says.
I am able to supply what you need…and more!
Trust My promises.
Put your faith in My faithful love.
Remember My Holy Spirit at work within you.
Remember you have been born through water and the Spirit.
Go ahead, Come! Drink in My gracious love for you daily.
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Let us remember our baptism and be thankful,
as we carry the nourishing waters of God’s love and grace into the world.
Carrying the water with you and thankful for you, 
Dena
If you would like to view past editions of Grace for the Journey, follow this link: https://fairwaydistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/