St. John was adept at writing metaphorically to convey truths about Jesus. In the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well, the water from the well becomes a pointer to a wellspring of eternal life, life in its abundance or fullness – hence some following thoughts about water and its varying impact on our lives today.
As a young teenager visited my parents when they were living in a remote part of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). All drinking water from their daily limited supply had to be boiled. I remember having half a small tooth mug of water to clean my teeth. For the first time was aware that water was a precious resource not to be taken for granted. On a subsequent visit I watched a fire advance dangerously close to our house. Fortunately it petered out in time but of course there would not have been a ready supply of water from a fire brigade.
On a different continent my Gordon. as a student. had a summer job fruit picking on an Israeli Kibbutz situated in the Negev Desert. He remembers the supervisor becoming angry at the casual way some volunteers failed to properly turn off the irrigation taps.
Back home in Sussex some communities have recently suffered days even weeks – of water outages and had to rely on emergency bottled water. For us in the UK such impositions are merely temporary. Sadly we know that there is not enough clean water to meet the world’s needs. Water Aid and other international organisations try to address this pressing issue and also try to raise our consciousness about it.
We are aware, on too many occasions, of the ensuing catastrophic effects of either too much or too little water, exacerbated by climate change amongst other factors. Our polluted rivers, lakes and seas and damaged eco systems are forcing us to urgently rethink how these life-threatening issues can best be addressed.
We are all familiar with the good practice of trying to conserve water in our homes and gardens. Until recently did not fully appreciate the concept of our Water Footprint. googled it and quote:
“A water footprint shines a light on what you don’t see – water that occurs in each step of the production process of the goods we buy. It can reveal water use patterns that can help individuals, businesses and countries to understand how they can use less water.”
Some facts to ponder for the production of the following.
- One pair of cotton jeans requires 26 bathtubs of water.
- One A4 sheet of paper uses about 10 litres of water.
- One ton of recycled paper will save 700 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil and 17 trees.
No doubt our water footprints will be on a future agenda of our newly formed Eco Group at Emmanuel.
Decades after my initial insights in Zambia hope that my increasing awareness will prompt responsible actions where possible.
The provision of clean non-threatening water is a God given gift that contributes to health in the widest sense. And anything that is healing and life-giving is bound to have a spiritual dimension as St John and Jesus recognised.