Living Water

 by Macy Johnson

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God 

and who it is that asks you for a drink, 

you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’”

(John 4:10 NIV)

 

“My wife was taken to the emergency room last night,” a friend told me. “She forgot to drink enough water yesterday and became dehydrated.”

I immediately went home and googled “dehydration.” According to the Mayo Clinic:

-      Dehydration symptoms include:

o   Dry mouth

o   Extreme Thirst

o   Fatigue

o   Dizziness

o   Confusion

o   Headaches

o   Drop in blood pressure

o   Blurry Vision

-      Dehydration occurs when the body takes in less water than it uses.

-      Dehydration is dangerous for young children and older adults.

-      As you age, your body’s fluid reserve becomes smaller and your sense of thirst is less acute.

 

Armed with moxie and new knowledge, I filled my tall Tervis tumbler again with filtered water from my refrigerator. The results slowly surfaced throughout the afternoon. I was more alert and not sluggish. My minor headache disappeared and my vision cleared. “Could drinking extra water really do more than mitigate thirst?” I wondered.

 

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, He knew she had come to address her hydration issues. She needed water for her physical body in order to survive and thrive. Had she ever thought about her spiritual need for living water? Did she know such a thing existed? Jesus knew her needs before she did and filled them.

 

Spiritual water is like physical water. When I disconnect from Jesus, my Source of Living Water, I get spiritual headaches, blurry vision, confusion, fatigue, and dizziness. I become disoriented and discombobulated, as my mother would say.

 

I will drink more life-giving water from the tap and the Savior today. I hope you will, too!