We all know that water is the most valuable resource on the planet. All living things -- fish, animals, plants and humans -- need water to survive.
In just the same way, we need to stay connected to Christ, the source of spiritual, living water that nourishes our souls.
Our ancestors in the faith completely understood the value of water for both our physical and spiritual lives. Images of water abound throughout Scripture. Genesis begins with waters covering the face of the earth. And Revelation ends with the vision of a river that flows from the throne of God.
In the Exodus story, we read of Moses floating down a river as a baby, and later leading the children of Israel through the divided waters of the Red Sea and tapping a rock in the desert from which water flowed.
Jesus and his disciples, several of whom were fishermen, also spent a good bit of their time around water. Jesus walked on water, calmed a storm while they were on a boat on the Sea of Galilee and talked about living water with a Samaritan woman who had come to a well in the middle of the day to get water for her house. When Jesus healed a man born blind by putting mud on his eyes, he told the man to wash in a pool to complete the miracle. And at the very outset of his ministry, Jesus went out to the waters of the Jordan River to meet his relative John for baptism.
