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“No water in Ireland? – A joke?” my friends said.
Going without water for a week in the cold weather makes you value it and the neighbours who helped out.
Getting clear water again, even if it’s cut off most days, made me conscious of how precious it is, and how easy to take for granted. It’s been a chance to get back into routines learnt in countries where water is metered or in short supply. These are simple things to cut the environmental cost of treated water – cleaning teeth with the taps off, putting a brick in the cistern; and as the toilet takes a third of water delivered to our homes, collecting it to reuse later that day – from the shower, hot water bottles, washing the floor. Just a small effort but a reminder about sharing the good things of life with others and thanking God for having it at all.
Clean water is rare and precious in Haiti. We hear of neighbours there thirsty from digging people out, a business distributing its bottled water free, strangers washing the wounds of the injured.
Being frugal here to share the supplies around seems a small sacrifice. Like prayer, it takes a bit of time and effort, and the effect isn’t always obvious. But it’s an opportunity to stop, the think about others, and how we use God’s gifts.
The scriptures, written in more arid countries, take water as a gift, something celebrated in the great poetry of Isaiah.
“O come to the water, all you who are thirsty; though you have no money come.”
Or Jesus himself in John’s Gospel: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, let the one come and drink who believes in me.”
Water is the symbol of hope, new life. It’s also a reminder of the countries that lack clean water for drinking, for the crops, for animals, for washing, for all the things we usually take for granted.
Going short of water here for a time could be a reminder that faith is a calling to enjoy life but to steward and share the good things. There is enough in the world for all our needs, but not for all our greed. Christianity calls people to sacrifice, to give time freely in concern for neighbours nearby but also for those across the world, and to use less, waste less, and prevent actions that destroy the planet, and the lives of the poor.
Christianity is a faith of optimism. I believe that how we live here is so important that God became human and shared it with us. We are all called to the fullness of life here, living more simply, depending on each other and not on possessions, in companionship with others. And then life eternal.
