What a Body Needs

August in Mississippi. Just saying that makes me sweat. You know that kind of heat that makes the road look wet in the distance. There is nothing like stepping out the door in the morning and having summer give you a big, wet hug.

The thought of yard work in August makes my head itch. I know I’m getting older…look at me, and you know I’m getting older. But I used to be able to do my yard from start to finish. Now I cut a little…stop and drink some water. Weed eat a little…stop and drink some water. Walk to the front yard…stop and drink some water. My increased water intake stems from a phrase I’m using more and more: “I used to be able to…”

I don’t wear summer well. To a stranger, my body looks more like it’s leaking than sweating. And when I’m that hot, I don’t want a Coke. I don’t want a sports drink. I want water. Just cold water.

As a sign of my transition into the life of a curmudgeon, I’ve started taking old milk jugs and a plastic pitcher with me whenever I head north toward Lucedale. Why, you may ask? In the little community of Basin, there’s an artesian well. In the late 1930s, a drilling crew came through looking for oil. Instead of striking oil…they hit some of the best water that has ever crossed your lips. It tastes different from what comes out of my faucet, and unlike bottled water, it actually has a taste. I choose to believe it’s the minerals. God made minerals, by the way.

Why do our bodies crave water? Because we are mostly water. Our blood contains a great deal of it. But so do our brains, hearts, lungs, kidneys, muscles, and eyes. Most of them are made up of more than 70% water. No wonder I slosh sometimes.

God designed our bodies to crave water. Likewise, He created within each of us a craving for Him. We have a spiritual thirst. It cannot be satisfied with religious activity or good works. It can’t be satisfied with money, pleasure, relationships, or success. That thirst can only be satisfied by Jesus Christ.

In John 4, Jesus stops to speak with a woman at a well. She had tried to satisfy the cravings within her through relationships. She had been married five times and was living with a sixth man. She was empty. She was rejected. Jesus offered her the only thing that could truly satisfy…Himself…the Living Water.

Are you trying to satisfy your thirst for Jesus with other things today? Spit that buttermilk out and drink deep from the Living Water.

Until the next page…

Scott Sullivan

The Notebook