You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
Reflection
This is the first of twelve reflections that follow the journey of water through Scripture. These are not lessons in doctrine, but meditations that move with the flow of water, tracing its path through creation, promise, and renewal.
Since coming to the United Kingdom from South Korea, I have come to know rain more closely than before. It falls often here, and it stays long enough to make me pause. Many days I simply watch it through the window and let its steady rhythm quiet my thoughts.
As I watch the rain, I remember something that interested me when I was a child. It was the water cycle. I learned that water does not disappear. It only changes its form. The rain outside my window today may have risen from the sea long ago or drifted as mist over a faraway mountain. The same water continues its long journey and returns.
Water carries a kind of history. It connects what came before with what is here now. While water returns again and again, we are often quick to forget. We forget the rain that once refreshed us. We forget the quiet prayers that were answered. We forget the mercy that reached us at the right time. We move through our days as if we are thirsty again, unaware of the wells that already sustained us.
Nothing is wasted with God. The water that once nourished the earth still nourishes it today. The grace that once restored us still moves toward us. It reaches us even when our hearts are slow to remember.
To remember is to be renewed. When we remember grace, gratitude begins to rise again. When we remember mercy, our hearts soften. When we remember God, life returns in us.
Perhaps this is why water returns. It does not return because it remembers. It returns so that we may remember.
Prayer
Lord, You remember what we forget.
When our hearts grow dry, let Your mercy flow again.
Slow us down to see Your grace in the quiet.
Let our hearts learn to remember
Your goodness, Your patience, Your love that never ends.
And when the day is done,
let our hearts rest in You.
Amen.