Parable 40 - Water

It was a high school craze. Sheila became the water enforcer in the house. That’s why she was knocking on the bathroom door, shouting to her father, “Times up! You need to get out of the shower.”

She had read that five minutes was longer than anyone needed to shower. So it seemed luxurious to her that she and her little brother, and her parents, would each get five minutes a day to shower. That was 20 minutes of the shower faucet on at full intensity.

After her father had dried off, he told her, “I still had shampoo in my hair. Relax, honey. We are not going to run out of water anytime soon. We live in Michigan. Our state is named after one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world.”

Sheila retorted, “Waste not, want not. You taught me that. Even with our new low-flow shower heads, we use at least two gallons of water per minute. Multiply that by four people, each showering for five minutes; that is 40 gallons of water per day just for showering.”

Sheila also had concerns about watering the lawn, the garden, and not power washing the sidewalk. Her little brother was caught continually leaving the bathroom faucet on while brushing his teeth, which she pointed out was a huge waste of water. Sheila wasn’t alone in her quest to conserve and honor water. She was the vice chair of the water preservation club. They had more than 50 members, and at least a dozen showed up every meeting.

She finished high school and was admitted to the university. It was in Sheila’s third year of college that her father noticed she was washing dishes while letting the kitchen faucet continually run. “That seems like a waste of water,” he said to her.

“Oh, so now you care about how much water I use. Good one, Dad.”

He answered, “The water bill keeps going up. They are redoing the city sewer lines and water is a lot more expensive than it used to be.”

“Give it a break, Dad. I know you don’t care about how much water we use. What’s it going to cost you, an extra five dollars a month?”

“Point taken,” he said. “I guess I’m just surprised. You always used to be so careful with how much water you used, or for that matter, any of us used. What’s changed?”

“I’m grown up, Dad. There are other things more important than water.”

Meditation

As we come to the final story of our Seeds of Hope series, we realize Sheila is not alone. Most of us have major priority shifts as we grow older. This Lent may not have gone the way you expected it to go. What once was important to us, may gradually become unimportant. Welcome to Holy Week. The crowd is shouting to Jesus, “Hosanna.” That word means adoration and honor. The people put out palm branches to bless the road upon which Jesus travels. It seems everyone is enthralled. But it won’t take long for all that to change. Jesus will soon be on the cross, and while many will mourn him, we don’t see the whole of Jerusalem concerned for him like we do when they lay down the palms and shout “hosanna.” Perhaps our Lenten fasting, prayer, and alms giving are different than we imagined.

Most of us ebb and flow our way through our relationship with God. We are distant; then we are close. Our tide comes in and goes out.

Sheila was right to be concerned about our water usage, just as the people of Jerusalem were right to honor Jesus. So we never want t take our faith or our natural resources for granted.

Without water we die. Without faith, our lives wither. Jesus has told us that he is the living water. When we drink the water he gives us, we will never thirst again.

As we close out the stories of our series, we honor Jesus this day. May we be blessed to remember and honor him the next day and the day after and every day.

May our river of faith never run dry.

May the fresh water of Jesus’ love be shared.

May we stay with Jesus not only through this Holy Week, but throughout every year, which will make every week holy.

Thanks for listening to our stories this Lenten season. Our hope is that they’ve been a source of comfort, strength and challenge for you.

Water the seed and ask yourself...

What water has Jesus given me this Lent to grow the seeds I have planted?