Giving thanks for 'sweet water'

A Christian Science perspective: Earth Day can be a time to give gratitude for God's abundance.

This Earth Day, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide will participate in local events celebrating the wonders of our planet. The day will also be dedicated to raising awareness about the continuing and urgent need to care well for the environment. As I spent some time earlier this month considering how to participate, a recent experience came to mind.

Several weeks ago I noticed on the wall in a local official’s office a large satellite map of the area where I live. One thing made apparent by the map was that all the different bodies of water scattered over this 35-square-mile township that I call home have one source. There is one great aquifer running underneath it all – one deep flow of fresh water coursing mostly unseen through the neighborhoods, under the roads, and into the parks, bubbling up as lakes, streams, and little fishing holes.

I have thought of that image many times since seeing it, often in relation to my faith. As a Christian, I turn to the Bible to learn about God; it teaches me about Him just like satellite maps teach me about Earth’s terrain. From the Bible, I understand God to be the only source of all goodness – and even if it looks to the human eye as though He might have disappeared, or even that He doesn’t exist at all, He is just as present as that aquifer.

In my town, as elsewhere in the world, there is much concern about both the quality and quantity of water. Dire predictions abound, but legitimate concern does not need to be accompanied by fear. In truth, fear gets in the way of finding solutions, because it induces feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.

Some of my favorite verses from the Bible include water metaphors such as this one: “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life” (Psalms 36:8, 9). In times of discouragement, how revitalizing it is to think of drinking of the river of God’s goodness while standing under the fountain of Life – a river that is endlessly forgiving and a fountain that pours out unconditional love! Or just when it seems that every solution to a problem has been tried and failure is imminent, there is this promise from God: “In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isaiah 35:6, 7). It was from the Bible that I first heard the adjective “sweet” applied to water: “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” (James 3:11).

Sweet water ... what a lovely image! The phrase refers to fresh water (as opposed to salt water), but for me, it brings images of all things fresh, cool, calm, pure, and kind. How nice it would be to spend Earth Day appreciating our Father-Mother God, the fountain of Life, which is mankind’s source for all things sweet. Like plants in a garden soaking up showers and blooming with life, we, drinking deeply from the inspiration of God, bloom with sweetness. “Sweetness” may be an old-fashioned idea, but it doesn’t have to be out of fashion. Instead of dwelling on cynicism or bitterness, why not devote ourselves to being sweet? Why not make an extra effort to speak words that are polite and encouraging to everyone we meet?

Whatever Earth Day activities we may be engaged in, why not bring along a pitcher of kindness to share? Refreshed and encouraged, rather than parched and distressed, we are better able to implement solutions to water problems – or any other environmental challenge.

The fountain of good is free to all. Drink heartily and then pass that glass to the person standing next to you!

To receive Christian Science perspectives daily or weekly in your inbox, sign up today.

To learn more about Christian Science, visit ChristianScience.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Giving thanks for 'sweet water'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2012/0420/Giving-thanks-for-sweet-water
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe