Today I fasted water. By fasting water I mean all water. No drinking, water for teeth, shower, flushing toilets (i had my daughter flush for me), no dishes, nothing. Why am I doing this to myself? Well because every 15 seconds someone dies from a water related illness. Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s one in eight of us. I am also spending my Lent season going through Steps Of Justice.I want to take today and remember those who don’t have access to water, this is for them and for me.
I actually thought today would be easy to get through. The hardest part, or so I thought was going to be waking up and not being able to throw water on my face to waken me up. So this morning I woke up, got dressed, brushed my teeth (dry), had toast, read my bible and went to work. No coffee, orange juice or nothing. Now I don’t usually drink a lot during the day so I thought it would be a breeze, but by lunch time the headaches started (mostly from lack of coffee I am sure).
I went with Amy and the girls for lunch and all I could think about was water. I could have gone the rest of the day without a bite, but the lack of water was getting to me in a bad way. We went to Trader Joes to get some picnic stuff and I bought an apple. Just biting into it was amazing, as the cold water in the apple hit my throught. Before I ate the apple though I took some of Amy’s water and started washing it off. I couldn’t believe it, I used water and didn’t even think about it. I used it cause I had it, as is usually the case.
When I got home in the late afternoon all I wanted was a cold drink of water. I also wanted to wash my hands as I had only been using hand sanitizer all day. So now here I sit after having my supper watching the hockey game, writing this blog and still only thinking about my headache and how all I want to do is drink something. I wonder if this is a small picture of what life is like for these 1 billion people in the world who don’t have the choice of drinking a glass of water? It is hard to think, hard to be motivated, hard to focus. How hard must it be for these 1 in 8 people who live their lives thirsty and dying from lack of water or dirty water?
Tomorrow I have the privilege of waking up and drinking as much as I want. The other billion people going to bed thirsty tonight don’t have that same privilege, they will wake up tomorrow and still be thirsty, still have no motivation, still not be focused. I pray that I don’t forget them, I pray that I never forget.
