Living Water

Have you ever been through a traumatic experience? Trauma arrives as unexpectedly as a violent storm. It can wreak havoc on your life, creating disorientation, uncertainty, and doubt. Appearing without warning, and consequently, without preparation for how to navigate, it is not uncommon to overlook or ignore basic, even obvious, needs. 

Several years ago, I experienced such an event. The subsequent effects were such that I sought counseling to help me process through the ordeal. After several sessions, the therapist told me that I was suffering from spiritual abuse. I had been betrayed by trusted partners in ministry. Although geographically removed from the situation today, I continue to work to heal from the after effects of that experience.

In my continual effort toward recovering full health, both physical and spiritual, I recently chose to attend a six week grief recovery class. I was astounded to learn in one session that it is not uncommon for the mechanism in our bodies that signals an urge to drink to become “broken” during periods of profound grief. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head! Over the past few years I have been periodically affected for brief periods of time with physical ailments tracing back to mild dehydration.

For those who know me intimately, dehydration is not something which I should be susceptible to. Water has always been my beverage of choice. I drink it will all meals and order it at restaurants. Proselytizing the merits of this clear elixir to others successfully converted my Dr. Pepper drinking husband.  (Until his return to the Lone Star state where he now imbibes the occasional DP on celebratory occasions, etc.).

However, in the past few years, I have allowed myself, more than once, to ignore specific demands and clues from my body to care for myself in a simple habit that I have practiced for a lifetime.

Even just mild dehydration can create pain and discomfort, placing a sudden brake on the forward momentum of life. Experiencing an inadequate supply of life-sustaining water, the body begins signaling the need for hydration, crying out in desperation for attention. If left untreated for long enough, this deprivation can lead to devastating consequences.

Since grief can mask, or numb, our natural inclination to provide a necessary resource for maintenance, purposeful intention becomes necessary. In this state, we must supply consistent doses of water to bypass the inevitable warning light. Deliberate steps must be taken to avoid a deficit, running dry, and creating additional health issues.

Just as we can overlook and fall out of a personal habit (even one we have practiced for a lifetime), it is possible to fall out of spiritual habits as well. And, much like physical dehydration can become hazardous to our physical health, spiritual dehydration can be detrimental to our spiritual health. If left untended, it may lead to further spiritual malaise.

The remedy for physical dehydration is a simple one: drink more water! In much the same way, there is a simple remedy to avoiding or combatting spiritual dehydration as well: drink more water…the living water!

John 4 introduces us to the phrase, “living water”. In this passage, Jesus is speaking with a woman at a well. Jesus, a Jew, asks the woman, a Samaritan, for a drink of water, surprising her because of a well known aversion that Jews had for Samaritans. Jesus informs this woman that he is capable of giving her living water that, once received, would eliminate her thirst for all time. He states in verses 13-14:

 

…Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. 

I am learning through life’s hardships how essential the living water is to thrive. During periods of hardship, it is necessary to hydrate ourselves. Especially against our inclination to overlook or ignore the need to do so. Consistent exposure to and interaction with that life-giving spring will help to ease us through the storms.

In the coming year, I pray that you and I both will continually tap into that eternal spring. Sip from the scriptures. Moisten your lips in prayer. The water supplied will quench your spiritual thirst and support your spiritual health even during the traumas of life.