On the Water
The nature of water speaks deeply about who we are, more than we may know.
Knees tucked into chest; arms wrapping them; head rested there; buttocks sandy and/or soggy...a recipe for being affected. By the tides? Yes. But by something greater as well. There is a corresponding tide that pulls more truly than the gravitational pull of the moon. There is something natural, something real that pulls at your soul when you stand (or sit) at the edge of that deep blue precipice known as ocean. As lake. Known as sea. Known simply as... water.
It’s made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen—and there's lots of ‘em. They're found everywhere: in our bodies (50-65%...depending on the size of the person), our fruits and vegetables (70-96%), and even our air (usually 2-4%). It is a fundamental building block of life that sustains and it heals. Without it, lay death: (3 days, or so, give or take). With it, growth and health.
To cultures around the world, water...has always...meant life.
Jesus talks about the importance of water. That the body needs it, but that the soul craves it.
It seems like God built in that physical need to match the spiritual need from our souls. He allowed Moses and the Israelites to pass safely underneath the split Red Sea. They were saved from their oppression, but still under water (metaphorically, but also literally) within the confines of that analogy. Jesus, unlike those Israelites (literally) walked on the water. As if he was triumphing over it. As he would if he created it. Water, in a sense, controls us. He is not bound by those same constraints. He binds those constraints...but not to spite them.
For he made the water clear. He made it reflect the beautiful colors of nature. The sunsets that show off the worldly majesty. So, to me, God made the water as a reminder of his bigness. Of his goodness.
He is more powerful than the waves. And we can experience him on the shore of a nearby beach, walking down a concrete sidewalk, or in the deep recesses of the heart—wherever its location may be.
Like water, He fills us. And fulfills the same.
