DEAR WATCHER OF TIMES: DO I REALLY APPRECIATE GOD’S FREE GIFTS?

Showers come in all forms, from those just drip and that can hardly be termed as a shower to those that literally cause you to test the laws of physics. I love showers, especially those that pour forth like a tropical thunderstorm, gushing forth with high pressure, the drop of each petal massaging the skin, the full blast on my face, causing me to hold my breath for as long as I possibly can and then emerging to take deep gulps of air, each breath combining with the amazingly refreshing power that water has on the body, soul and spirit.

Maybe it has something to do with loving to play in the rain as a child. The tropics is blessed with rain and when it rains it does so with a vengeance. The heat of the day makes the cool of rain a welcome intervention, especially at night when the sound of rain drops and even the loud boom of thunder makes sleep even sweeter than normal. So it was with a sense of shock that I arrived in the 5 star hotel in Cape Town to see the heartfelt pleas pasted in strategic locations to limit ones shower to all of 3 minutes. To help boost the image, the hotel welcomed it’s guests with a visual tower of 220 half litre bottles of still water depicting how much freshwater is used up in an average bath versus a mini stack of 50 bottles for a 2 minute shower.

The God of creation made water a vital part of human life. He covered the earth’s surface with 70% of it and composed the human body to consists of approximately 65% water. While man can go without food for 4-6 weeks, it takes approximately one week without water for the average man to expire yet our appreciation for water and it’s role in the survival of our ecosystem is often taken for granted until we are faced with a crisis. A drought in South Africa has made water, once a common amenity, now an item of luxury. Much like in the deserts of Arabia and the dry corners of the earth, only those faced with the reality of having to search long and hard for water can truly appreciate how generous God has been to make water so easily accessible to the vast majority of people on earth.

May we be genuinely thankful for the air we breath and water we drink each day.