WATER FoR Life

Kay Adkins

Copywriter, author, and critter-lover!

​Every morning my husband and I walk several laps around a pond on our property.  We dug the pond last fall, so this spring and summer are the first seasons we’ve had a full pond.

We’ve loved watching the bullfrogs camp out on the embankment, and leap into the water as we pass by.  We have even named some of them—Mr. Big (because even though he’s not that big, he’s the biggest at our pond), and Sharapova (because, like the tennis player, the frog grunts every time she hops).

We stocked the pond with some perch and minnows in early spring, and we love throwing them fish food from time to time, and watching them hit the top of the water to eat.

One afternoon we even loved watching a little water snake (non-poisonous!)  playfully writhe on the top of the water in the middle of the pond.  I would never have imagined thinking of a snake as ‘frolicking’—but I did, and it made me happy.

Today, a particularly sultry morning, we loved watching our 15-year-old dog, Stiver, wade out into the water to take a refreshing swim.

How much of our joy and pleasure is dependent on water?  We ENJOY being around water—it’s beauty, the way it feels running over our skin, the sounds it can make during gentle rains.

HOWEVER. . .Early this spring, I have to confess, I complained: “When is it going to stop raining?  The pond is full already!  Our horse-barn is a mud pit!”

I thought our quick-sand would NEVER dry out.

Then we experienced many weeks without any rain at all. 

I began to complain . . . AGAIN. 

“Our grass is turning brown.”

“Our horses won’t have any pasture to get them through summer.”

“I’ll have to actually water our tomatoes by hand.”

“Everything will get so dusty if we don’t get some rain!”

Oh, how I take for granted this necessity of life.  Living in the United States, water is available everywhere—our homes, our yards, bottled water, canned fizzy water, lakes, rivers, springs, swimming pools, decorative fountains (in parks AND in our own back yards). 

I take a shower every day.  I wash dishes and do laundry any time I want to.  Occasionally I give my car a bath at the local car wash. I make tea or lemonade at will.  I fill up my pet’s water bowl with fresh water daily.

If ever cut off from my plentiful water sources, could I make it?  How much anger and frustration and hopelessness would I—I who have NEVER been without—experience?  Can you imagine the chaos that would result in a wide-spread, long-term, U.S. drought?

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Hold that thought while you consider these statistics from The World Health Organization and UNICEF:

• Currently, about 2 billion people globally are accustomed to using a contaminated water source—contaminated with feces.
• Predictions state that half of the world’s 7 billion people will live in water-stressed areas by 2025.
• Almost 900 million people in the world practice open defecation—without latrines, they eliminate wherever they can—in streets, behind bushes, or open bodies of water. Regions where open defecation is widespread report the highest number of deaths of children under age 5.
• Diarrhea, often caused by unsafe drinking water, is a killer. 315,000 children die of diarrhea annually. Forty percent of those (120,000+) could be avoided if children could wash their hands with soap.

Thank God for many missions organizations and relief efforts focusing on changing communities by addressing the water crises.

One in particular, Compassion International addresses the need through their Compassion Water for Life program—a water filtration system that will provide a family with safe water—for life.  Through Compassion’s partnership with thousands of churches worldwide, communities receive water storage systems, rain water collection systems, irrigation systems, toilets, sinks,  and hygiene education.  What a game-changer!

Due to recent local hurricanes—like Harvey in Houston and Maria in Puerto Rico—the water crises hit much closer to home. But with disaster relief efforts of so many organizations, our federal government, and just concerned individuals who wanted to help—those water shortages, while very tragic, don’t exactly compare to what 2 billion people live with every day.

I cannot imagine worrying about my drinking water every day all my life:  Is it clean?  Will I be able to get water today? Could I walk to an unsanitary stream every day and carry home 30-pound buckets of water for my family (like a Tanzanian child named Nyabwiri did every day after school—until Compassion workers changed her circumstances)? I’m not sure.

For now, I have the safety and convenience of clean water. And then, I even have a pond.  A beautiful pond that serves as a healthy home for all kinds of critters, and a peaceful, life-giving setting for my husband and I to take walks.   Wow.

I have only two appropriate responses:

1. Gratitude. For what I have (clean, beautiful water, plus plenty of caring people nearby who would come to the rescue if something happens to it).  
2. Active concern. Being a caring rescuer myself.  Doing SOMETHING to help alleviate the suffering of those who have little or no clean water.​

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​And with all of this in mind, I am particularly moved by these words of Jesus:

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​“And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42