The Marvel of Blue Space

                           Maclean's ILLUSTRATION BY SEAN LEWIS Published 14:36, May. 10, 2021

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.

                        Psalm 42:1-2 NRSV

 Not too long ago Macleans Magazine published a piece by Dan Rubinstein with the title: Blue Space Is the New Green Space: Why being near water can be a boon for our health and wellness. One of the paragraphs in the piece explains it well: 

The restorative qualities of being in nature, or “green space,” are well documented, but researchers have only recently begun to focus on what changes when water is part of the picture, when we spend time in or near aquatic environments. Taking in the sea air, strolling along a peninsula, or simply sitting beside a pond have long been considered good for our well-being, but evidence is emerging that “blue space” may have a more profound impact on our bodies and brains than other outdoor environments do. 

Rubenstein consults Mat White  perhaps the world’s leading authority on blue space (who knew there were any experts on the subject?):

The quality of blue spaces affects their therapeutic properties, as does how we interact with them, variables influenced by geography as well as by cognitive and cultural differences. For example, people often prefer places they visited as children, according to White. But, on the whole, when we’re near water, we tend to lose track of time and are more active, he says, and every extra minute of movement is good for our physical health. Moreover, “people benefit more mentally when they’re visiting blue spaces than when they’re visiting green spaces,” adds White, although the ideal, he clarifies, is where the two spaces meet.

I would certainly say "amen" to this and add that I'm convinced that there is a deeply spiritual quality to being near water, on water, or in water. Last year we were on the water in our canoe and kayaks nearly 50 times and despite unseasonably cool weather during the past month we've been on lakes and rivers and the Bay of Quinte half a dozen times this year. This morning I headed out for a cycle which took me along the Bay here in the city.. We almost always encounter wildlife because water is life, and we tend to choose places to paddle where it's just us and the critters. 

Yesterday we were on a section of the Salmon River north of Napanee with no humans but dozens of turtles, several blue herons, a muskrat and a beaver. The trees are coming into leaf and the water lilies are beginning to surface. It was wondrous, and we were mindful of the Creator. As I've written before, we often take a moment in the quiet to give thanks and receive the gift of what is all around us, and literally as close as reaching out a hand. 

Scripture often refers to water as both physical necessity and spiritual metaphor, and Jesus is Living Water.