Jubilant Water War

It was war! Water balloons were catapulted into the air with devastating effect, buckets of water annihilated any dry spot on its enemy, Supersoakers took aim with pin point accuracy, and the water hose was the epicenter of No Man’s Land. The toll of war was a high price to pay, the casualties piled up in the melee of battle, even the innocent bystander was an unfortunate victim in the overflow. No one left unscathed…yet we loved it. On the hottest day of the year, in the middle of a record breaking heat wave, the all out water war, was the most refreshing fun I’ve had all summer.

It was a dangerously hot day at 106-110 degrees in some areas, and for us Oregonians who feel most comfortable at about 68 degrees this heat was nearly unbearable. I can’t sleep at night, I feel anxious, always tired, irritable, scattered and am generally as unproductive as a slug. However, as we came together for our Wednesday Family Night, without A/C, in an epic water war between kids, students and adults it changed the day from misery to jubilation. As the battle was nearing its end, soaked from head to toe, I paused and realized I felt completely refreshed, cooled down and full of energy. Water is a beautiful thing.

Scripture uses the metaphor of water to describe the spiritual refreshing and life-giving affect upon our emotional, social, mental and physical well being. In the 23 Psalm the Good shepherd “leads me beside sill waters”, and we have all experienced those dry, hot, desperate times in our lives where we can relate to the poetic Psalm.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (42:1-2)

Christ gives the appeal for us to come to him and drink of the refreshing, life-giving Holy Spirit.

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38

Just as we are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave, at times we have all felt the pressure, stress, irritation, hopelessness, drain of breaking heat in our lives. Family and marital relationships that are strained, finances that are stretched, health, work pressures, unfulfilled hopes, expectations and dreams, and uncertainty and anxiety of our future can make us feel depressed, tired, irritable, hopeless, drained, lethargic, and myopic. The good news is that in God’s goodness, he has given us his refreshing spirit for life, hope, joy, discernment, strength, energy with living water flowing from within us. We then become a source of God’s refreshing Spirit.

When those record breaking heat waves hit me from time to time, I will be armed and ready with water balloon in hand, a mischievous glint in my eye, and the confidence to know that a refreshing victory is at hand.