On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart* shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,* because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39
Quinte Conservation has been sending out reminders that the hot, dry weather has significantly affected water levels in streams and rivers and lakes. We are encouraged to be mindful of our use of water, which is always a good idea in this country where we tend to take water for granted.
In this heat birds and bees come to our bird baths for a splash and a drink. Our backyard is becoming brown, other than around our raised vegetable beds which we still water. Our small front lawn is quite green because it is watered daily by our next-door neighbour. Because of the shape of the properties on our court his sprinkler system waters our lawn and a portion of our driveway. It drives me a little crazy when we are attempting to be careful --hey, not only to we have multiple-rainbarrels, we recycle dishwater for watering.
We also love being on the water, either in our canoe or in our kayaks. We paddled an unassuming section of the Salmon River on the weekend and the Bay of Quinte last evening. The river was quite low, yet there was so much happening. There were many herons and kingfishers and an osprey.
The turtles were festooned on logs like performance art, we watched a furtive muskrat enter its bank home, and a water snake popped up its head between us. Last evening we saw many of the same birds, and in the water a number of large fish, likely carp. Water means life for so many creatures, and it was captivating.
As Christians we are aware that Jesus used the metaphor of water to describe himself and the possibilities to be refreshed and enlivened. We can't forget that we are literally dependent on water for life as well, and our care for it is an aspect of what it means to be faithful.
Thoughts?
Hey, I'm a multiple rain barrel guy too. Everyone's grass is brown this time of year, except for our neighbour who is watering her lawn literally every day. It drives me crazy. As Mark Cullen says, let it go brown, it will come back in August when we get the heavy morning dew.
ReplyDeleteI especially can't stand those timed sprinkler systems. Nothing more frustrating than seeing one on during or right after a downpour!
I love going on the canoe or kayak and checking out the turtles and birds. To me, that is about as good as it gets.