What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far –
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar
Whose limit none has ever seen,
But just his lid of glass –
Like looking every time you please
In an abyss’s face!
The grass does not appear afraid,
I often wonder he
Can stand so close and look so bold
At what is awe to me.
Related somehow they may be,
The sedge stands near the sea –
Where he is floorless
And does no timidity betray
But nature is a stranger yet:
The ones that cite her most
Have never passed her haunted house,
Nor simplified her ghost.
To pity those that know her not
Is helped by the regret
That those who know her, know her less
The nearer her they get.
— Emily Dickinson
Water, feared and dangerous at times, but also the source of life. Without clean water, we can die in a matter of days. And the destruction of floods, hurricanes, typhoons, torrential rain, sleet and hail can bring destruction and death in minutes and hours.
Ironically those most susceptible to its force are also those most in need of its sustenance.
All of us need both physical and spiritual water to sustain our lives, and we are called to share both as well.
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” To quench one’s thirst here is an image of giving and receiving the water of life that flows under the city of God.
Water is a basic human right, and also a divine privilege. Let us share both generously .
Take a little time and listen to the Rainforest!