Cuando No Hay Agua (When There Isn't Water)

At night, the water is off.

Most days, starting at around 3pm, the government shuts the water off and people can only use what they have stored in buckets in their homes.  There’s a bucket in the shower for washing your hands or rinsing off at night.  There’s a bucket in the kitchen for drinking water and another for rinsing dishes.  Running water is a gift only enjoyed here in the morning.

They say it’s because the government is conserving water, but this “fact” is debatable.  In reality, it’s probably more of a power play.  Tap water isn’t a right here, it’s a privilege, and the people are reminded of this every night when they turn the sink knob and nothing happens.

But last night there was water.  I could have jumped for joy.  I could shower before bed.  I could brush my teeth without needing a water bottle.  I could flush the toilet.

One week in Nicaragua and I’ve already come to feel thankful to the government when they don’t turn off the water rather than upset that they do at all.

One of my fellow interns pointed out the spiritual parallel that this story has.

Sometimes, the water is off.

For any number of reasons, we haven’t heard the voice of God regularly for months.  We’ve stopped reading our Bibles every night and only get around to it when we have some free time or feel guilty enough.  Church is really more of a chore than it is refreshing.  Although once in awhile we turn the knob of our spiritual life and find that water gushes out, most of the time we aren’t even rewarded with a drop.

And still we adapt to this.  In fact, we come to view it as normal.  Rather than crave the Spirit of God in our lives more, we just learn to be thankful for the few times a year He seems to really show up.  When we should be protesting for change, we end up thankful to the very things that bind us.

There will be days when the water is off.  It’s simply part of life.  But this doesn’t mean we should ever lose our thirst.  In fact, we should seek the Living Water we are promised so diligently that we are willing to abandon what we had originally thought to be normal for something so much more.  

I pray that I am never fully satisfied in my need for Christ, the Living Water.  May I never think it's normal to turn the knob and find no water.  And when I do, may I get up and search for Christ ceaselessly, until I am drowning in His love.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." -Isaiah 43:19

"Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'” -John 4:10