The Watercarrier: Hard but Necessary Work
Ruth Ann Stites, Staff Writer
I started thinking about the idea of water carrying a few weeks ago. It is certainly a Biblical topic from Rebecca at the well in Genesis to Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman in John to the living water flowing from the throne in Revelation.
I live on the old family farm my grandparents bought in the late 1920’s. When they first moved here, their main source of water was a spring at the bottom of a valley feeding into the headwaters of Prairie Creek. They built a set if steps down the mountain to the spring, but this only lightened the burden of providing water from it a little. Every bucket of spring water they used had to be hand carried up the mountain to the small house they built.
Water is necessary for life, and until recently in human history, people had to work hard to provide themselves with a sufficient supply. Turning the tap in our kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoors spaces is often an underrated luxury in the developed world. When we lose access to our water supplies, as in a natural disaster, we begin to appreciate just how vital providing water is. We have all seen, if not experienced, loads of water arriving, and how relieved people are when they are handed bottled water by modern-day water carriers.
In one of his most classic encounters—the Samaritan woman at the well—Jesus uses the example of water to make his point about the “Eternal Life” he offers for those who thirst for Godliness (John 4:1-42). In verses 13-14, “Jesus answered [the woman], ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” Once we have “found” this eternal water source, it becomes our privilege to become water carriers to those who so desperately need to drink. If providing physical water is necessary, so much more so is the need for spiritual water for people who are dying of thirst for it.
In this world, water carriers are usually unsung heroes. It’s not particularly glamorous to work for the water department or dig wells, carry buckets, or load a simi-trailer with pallets of water bottles. But it is vital, necessary, and life-giving work. It is also vital to be someone who provides spiritual water through our words and deeds, pointing others to the Source, Jesus! I think water carrier is an honorable title any Cross Disciple would be proud to claim, don’t you?
(Photo credit: RA Stites, Old Missouri Road, Fayetteville, AR)
