By Lois Hewitt

In my quest for better health, I have become quite the water drinker. I grew up with Coke in the glass bottles. In fact, that’s all I ever remember drinking. I didn’t drink milk and definitely never water. We had a well growing up and I can still taste the iron and whatever else was in the water. Yuck!

As I got older, I realized that was not healthy so I switched almost exclusively to iced tea. That was made with water so I figured it as healthy. It’s amazing how much stuff they put in unsweetened iced tea. I found after a while the tea was making me sick.

What was I left with? Water. I started drinking bottled water only. But that is very bad for the environment, inconvenient for cooking and, not to mention, really expensive. I used to work for a water processing company so I knew about filtration options and ended up with a reverse osmosis unit.

Now all I had to do was start liking the taste of water. I will be honest, it did take a while. I was used to heavily sweetened food and drinks with lots of additives, so water was painfully bland to begin with.

Now other than my cup of coffee in the morning and the occasional cup of hot tea, I am all about the water. I drink a certain amount every two hours in order to make sure I hit my quota. My lungs, skin, liver, kidneys, brain and literally everything else are happy.

It’s the same way with God’s word. It gives life. That is why it is called the Living Water. Our body needs the inspiration from the Word, along with the guidance. The Word fills every part of your body and soul. Without it, you would become sluggish and stagnant.

When I did not drink enough water, the functions of my body are bogged down. They barely work and forget about working efficiently. The same is true of God’s word, you need it to function.

Let me explain something about the beginning decades of my Christian walk. I read the Bible in snigglets. I like the happy, perky verses and left the others alone. I read the New Testament though but did not glean a lot of understanding from it. You might say, reading the Bible was an acquired taste for me.

But once I committed to it, the Holy Spirit allowed me to start understanding it. The taste went from bland to sweet. I still am working on a consistent plan for reading my Bible. Just like drinking water, the more of it I consume the more I want.

Every once in a while, I will cheat and eat or drink something I should stay away from. I go off my path. After doing that, it can take a little while to adjust to water again. So it is with sin. You can be doing great reading your Bible and off the path you go (it will happen as it happens to everyone) and for a time you may have lost your taste for it. Get back on the path and you will find that refreshment again.

We all must remember that we are all flawed and we will drink a Coke or eat a burger or whatever bumps us off the path. Just go back to the One who loves you and fill yourself with The Living Water. You will find comfort and peace. Your soul will be satisfied. I pray you feel God’s love for you today and are quenched from His word.