The Power of Water

Perhaps you've had a morning like mine - running late, you throw yourself in the shower, choke down a bowl of cereal, toss an apple in your bag, and dart out the door. All this haste only to idle at a traffic light for 3 full light cycles while the truck in front of you won't chance a left turn without the green arrow. Your heart rate is on rapid fire speed, and you just can't find a song on the radio to help you cool your jets.

Then something extraordinary happens - something you don't expect, that asserts itself in the midst of the stress to pull you out of yourself. I was rushing to my car in the parking lot where I'd just run a quick errand, and I was trying to not be blinded by the bright morning sun. Suddenly I sensed something cool and wet on the skin of my arms - little droplets flung by the breeze from sprinklers lining the lot. My brain switched off momentarily to let my senses focus on the sensations of coolness and wetness and the feeling of not knowing when or where the next droplet would fall. Water is such a fundamental element in the process of life. This pivotal molecule that we consume can also consume us - whether floods on land like in Iowa this summer, or on the sea during hurricanes and boat wrecks.

What surprised me about this single quiet moment of my morning was the way the water consumed my thoughts. It exerted enough power over my senses that everything else vanished like a crashing wave under the heaving crest of another. It was absolutely the best moment of my day.