Summers in North Carolina can be brutal, particularly in late July and August. For this reason, my husband and I will walk Carl and his sister Bee as early as possible. But even so, walking our French Bulldogs can cause a lot of stress on their little bodies. Carl has a larger snout than Bee and can tolerate the heat a little better than his sister. On the other hand, Bee’s smashed in face causes her to have trouble breathing. We have tried lots of different collars to keep them from pulling so hard, which causes extra anxiety. But the best solution for Bee to be able to endure the three mile walk is a water vest. After soaking the vest in water, we zip it up around Bee’s peanut shaped body and head out into the humid air. We also take a special water bottle that the dogs can drink from when it looks like they are struggling. After observing my dogs this morning I got to thinking about our relationship with water.
How often do we take for granted the water that is available to us? Our bodies are full of water and when we get too hot, we perspire which cools us down. When hurt feels our hearts, our bodies let go of droplets of water to shed us of our inner pain. And when we are thirsty, there is no better solution than a tall glass of cold water. This is why I find it interesting how Jesus refers to a special kind of water when speaking to the Samaritan woman. If you remember, the Samaritan woman was an outcast from the others in her village and came to get water in the middle of the day when no one else was around. Jesus had made his way to the well and asked this woman for a drink of water. She was shocked that a Jew would speak to her, given that she was a Samaritan and had been with so many men.
Let’s pick the story up in John 4:10 “ Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
What is this water that Jesus refers to that will cause a man to not thirst and spring up into everlasting life? Is this water available to us today? Could Jesus be speaking to all of us when he offered this woman living water? And lastly, how can I have access to this water?
Doesn’t the Bible say in Hebrews 12:4 “that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart?” If this is true, I believe we can find the living water within the pages of God’s word.
As for Carl and Bee, they survived the walk and are now finding comfort within the walls of our air conditioned home. After drinking the water in their dish and cooling their bodies down, they are back to their normal selves. Hoping for a treat or at least some attention before they find a place to lay down to sleep until the next walk outside.