Living Water

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

Living water moves and is never stagnant for long. Living water may freeze for a time but life is not left undone or gone. Even the ocean can freeze and yet make waves simultaneously. In this season of little light and much snow is can be hard to remember what living, moving water is all about. The spirit of God, the author of all life, the essential element of all of us living beings, is water, falling over water, the substance of life, of baptism, of participating in the love of God. In the bleak mid-winter, it might be hard to remember that living water reflecting the summer's sun, but God is with us despite the stone like snow and ice.

John's Gospel. with all of the poetic words and illustrative descriptions, touches us with words of God's love and presence with us. We hear of Jesus talking with the people using familiar images to describe deep mysteries. Simplifying the complex, removing the barriers for all of us. Jesus promises that the life force of God, the living spirit of the creator's images will be felt and known in each believer, in our time as well as his. What promise for the bleakest of mid-winters! No anonymous or far-distant God, living by hidden and complex rules, but God who dwells with us, whose spirit is free and available for all!

Today, I want to give thanks for living water, for love which is renewed day by day, morning by morning. No matter how short we are yesterday, God's love is sufficient and abundant for today and God's mercy and forgiveness flows as constant as the sea for all who simply ask. May we all rejoice this day in God's spirit which animates us, renews us and emboldens us to live and love and forgive, no matter what we face today.