Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
— Revelation 22: 1-2
Somehow this Jackson Browne classic of a rock spiritual keeps coming to mind down here on the beach at Placencia.
(Click here for more on Placencia, site of the best beaches in Belize . . . )
But scriptures about water–and how water is one of the greatest of vital gifts from God keep coming to mind as well. A few thoughts on the precious gift of water down below.
Grace & peace from Palencia . . .
“Rock me on the water,
“Sister will you soothe my fevered brow?
“Rock me on the water,
“I’ll get down to the sea,
“I’ll get down that sea
“Somehow.”
— His Greatness Jackson Browne
one of the best and most spiritual
of rock/folk lyricists in the biz
“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and want what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant . . . ” God calling the Israelites in exile to return to him and give up their fascinations with Babylonian power, their drive to succeed that always ended with their being dissatisfied and feeling empty. From Isaiah 55.
Water is not just our source of life.
It is our life.
Our very bodies are mostly water.
We need water for our thirst, but we need clean seas and waterways in order for God in God’s providence to provide us the resources we need for life.
We’re always partners with God, having to respond to God and working with God rather than against God. In polluting the earth and waters we’re working against Him/Her.
We are called, as United Methodist theologian Randy Maddox at Duke Divinity School says, to “responsible” grace--being responsible for all manner of things including the preservation of the purity of God’s green earth which is also our earth.
So how are we doing?
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