Thirsty for More than Water
- the origin and pace of quenching our thirst
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
Psalm 107:8-9 Message
I carry a vivid memory of taking high school kids on a bus from the Texas hill country to the peaks of Colorado for a Young Life ski trip. It was not the many miles, crazy music, or overpowering smell of bus exhaust I remember most. It is not even how we repeatedly told them, “You must drink water and lots of it while you’re in the mountains. Pop does not count. Water is the thing.”
No, it was sitting with them in the ski patrol medical tent, exceedingly frightened at the their drab skin and sunken eyes. It was praying fervently until I could see brightness slowly rise across their faces and light come back into hollow eyes as the IV fluids dripped into their veins toward rehydration. It didn’t happen instantaneously, but the visible change hydration created was remarkable, life quite literally bloomed before my eyes.
I did not know it then, for goodness sake I was only twenty myself, but according to a Harvard study called The Neuroscience of Thirst, we have a thirst center in our brains that precisely and intricately keeps track of the water levels in our bodies. Through a complex system of increasing signals: thirst, lowered blood pressure, headache, nausea, and fatigue, our brains fire neurons that tell our bodies, “We need water!”. All I knew at the time was that life seemed to leave their faces as they lacked sufficient water.
Scientists give us an inkling of just how sophisticated our brains are as holders, regulators, and communicators of vital information for life. Our noggins can even tell the difference between water and other liquids we ingest and between ways we intake fluids. Though both eventually work, our brains detect the difference between the act of drinking water and taking in fluids via an intravenous drip. And here’s something vitally important, both ways of hydration need a steady unhurried pace to keep from overloading the body’s system.
Last year, I did a small thing. I filled a glass with water and set it by my coffee maker. This was to establish a habit of beginning my day with a drink of water along with my first cup of coffee. Whenever I could remember, usually at lunch and dinnertime, I refilled my glass and gurgled it down. It was the start of something small and significant.
In a separate habit stream, I had been trying to establish a weekly prayer habit called the Examen – an honest look back in love to move forward in wholeness. The Examen in an ancient daily prayer pattern of reflection best known from the teachings of St Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, but practiced by many church fathers and mothers throughout history. Examen was meant to examine your life, both inwardly and in community in order to live more like Christ toward all. It was meant to be practiced daily, but I first found seasonal and then weekly reflections the easiest to integrate into my life. I was thirsty for a daily reflection but found it harder to mix in at the close of each day. I was tired, yes, but there was more. I was still learning to walk around inside myself alongside my loving God.
I was thirsty for a daily reflection but found it harder to mix in at the close of each day. I was tired, yes, but there was more. I was still learning to walk around inside myself alongside my loving God.
For too long, I associated Examen with shining a harsh light on my sins and searching only for my shortcomings. But then I noticed two things: this view made it all about me, and this is not how Jesus talks with everyday people in Scripture. Once I truly listened in love (without fear), I heard Jesus’ gentle and honest voice toward me and my defenses came tumbling down. I began understanding his shining light is for good, mine and everyone else’s, and I could open my heart wide to his love and direction.
Richard Foster calls the prayer of Examen a “scrutiny of love for your health, happiness, and healing”. Psalm 18 describes this look as “opening the book of my heart to God’s eyes”. Probably the simplest definition I’ve heard from Jesuit priest, Dennis Hamm is “rummaging for God”. When I notice God’s fingerprints on my small life, I can remind myself He is with me.
Traditionally Examen unfolds in five steps: Relish, Request, Review, Repent, Resolve. Here’s how I have named the steps: Relish – tiny thanks, Request - invite God’s light to shine on my life, Review - recount the day, Return – notice turnings toward and away from God, Renew – refresh toward God and neighbor.
I have noticed the trend away from New Year’s resolutions. But I find myself more inclined toward them, or what I call Patterns of Purpose - rhythms that draw us to the heart of God.
This year, I’m trying something new to incorporate Examen into my daily life. It’s what I call a domino habit. A domino habit is one that when tapped brings others along with it. There are obvious domino habits, such as going to bed earlier which makes getting up earlier the next morning a little easier. But this domino habit was a little less obvious. At first, it seemed I was connecting unrelated habits. However, I quickly realized that since we have a thirst center in our brains that communicates with our bodies, it makes sense that we may also have a thirst center in our souls that communicates with our spirit. As the poet reminds us,
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2
In truth, I am braiding three habits together: drinking water, nourishing my body with food and movement, and daily Examen, hoping they can all cue and reinforce each other. I posted this note next to my little watering station. (The painted rock is a gift from Sweet Pea. My coffee pot is stage right.)
Here’s how it works for me. With every glass of water (16 oz) at a particular time I already nourish my body, I practice one step of reflection.
Body Nourishment Soul Nourishment
Water + Coffee + Tiny Thanks
Water + Exercise + Invite the Light
Water + Breakfast + Review Yesterday
Water. + Lunch + Notice Turnings (to/away from God)
Water + Teatime + Reset to Love
Water + Dinner + Invite the Night
That last one is a little way to end my day in the care of God and reach healthy hydration at the same time. I have a bedtime prayer which is to ask God to keep speaking to me while I sleep, a time when my wake-time fences may be flung wide open and I might hear on another level. I call this “Invite the Night”.
I knew deep inside I was thirsty for a steadier, smaller, more frequent rhythm of communing with God. In drinking more of his love, I would feel his thirst for more of mine.
I knew deep inside that I was thirsty for a steadier, smaller, more frequent pace of communing with God. In drinking more of his love, I would feel his thirst for more of mine.
By combining the practical nourishment of my body with the spiritual nourishment of my soul. I may have stumbled on one practical pattern of quenching my thirst, body and soul. But before we think this is only about healthy habits (a fine place to start), let’s remember we are created to hunger and thirst for righteousness, something Jesus modeled well for us. He reminds us in the Beatitudes,
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. Matthew 5:6 (Message)
Here’s the crux of it all. There is a river that runs through all of life inviting us to drink. We were made to thirst for the One who thirsts for us. We are only quenched by the One who quenches. As Augustine writes of Jesus, “the Fountain thirsts”. Our thirst is mutual, made for synchronicity, only to be quenched by the River of Life.
There is a river that runs through all of life inviting us to drink. We were made to thirst for the One who thirsts. We are only quenched by the One who quenches. As Augustine writes of Jesus, “the Fountain thirsts”. Our thirst is mutual, made for synchronicity, only to be quenched by the River of Life.
With every glass I filled with ease from my tap, I knew there are places without a source of clean flowing water. With every meal I counted on, I realized there are people without nutritious food to count on. With every moment I was grateful (or forgot to be), I felt my gratitude grow deeper for the heart and mind of God.
If you are looking for practical ways to hunger and thirst for righteousness beyond your daily habits and prayers, there are many organizations to partner with. Here are two of our favorite non-profits doing literal hunger and thirst work around the world.
Healing Waters International works in poverty and disaster relief by providing clean water along with health and hygiene training.
Food for the Hungry works to alleviate poverty by being child-focused in hard places. You can sponsor a child, knowing “The world is hungry, but the emptiness goes far beyond the table.”