water

The sad story that has unfolded in Aleppo, Syria over the past month just tears at my heart. Images of little children who were pulled from the rubble, or worse yet, little bodies in the streets, get at me in a way that few other things do. The grieving and fear and deprivation that has been part of everyday life in Aleppo is mind-boggling.

One very basic thing that just doesn’t seem like it should happen any more is going without water. In addition to shortages of everything else, including medical care, water is hard to come by for the people living there.

Those recent thoughts made Isaiah 41:17-20 especially impactful this morning:

“The poor and needy search for water,

but there is none;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the Lord will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

and the parched ground into springs.

I will put in the desert

the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland,

the fir and the cypress together,

so that people may see and know,

may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Being without water is miserable and life-threatening. So is being without the Holy Spirit, which is what this passage in Isaiah is really about. Centuries later, Jesus would tell listeners in the temple that the Living Water he promised was the Holy Spirit. It would refresh their souls and give them life.

Before Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, there had to be Christmas. Jesus came to save, and then to equip the saved God sent the Holy Spirit. Just as was prophesied.

I’m reminded this morning that I’m blessed with the Holy Spirit in me because of Christmas. It’s a gift that too often I take for granted. It’s a gift that’s meant to help me become more holy, to help me get ready for when Jesus comes.

It’s the gift of the Holy Spirit that helps me to watch and wait.