WATER AWARENESS

Some years ago we were instructed to NOT run the water while brushing our teeth. I can't remember how that message got to us or when. I remember it was a hard lesson for me to learn. I don't remember whether I had to teach it to my children or if they were already there. Time folds back on itself when you get to be seventy. Anyway, we learned to brush our teeth without the running of water; using just enough to rinse off the toothbrush and then to rinse and spit. We must have saved a lot of water this way.

Now I soap my hands and rinse in cold water. I don't take baths. Quick showers. Well, not too quick but I don't stand under the water in contemplation either. The dishwasher is crammed to the edges before I run it. We have even started to save the shower water that runs before the water gets warm. I save the water that rinses out the coffee pot. Bill is not quite so fanatic and I frequently find myself admonishing him for wasting my great-grand children's water. He has become a little more careful.

For Book Club some time back we read "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy. It was a heart wrenching depiction of a father and son struggling to survive after what must have been an atomic cataclysm. Water was full of char and had to be filtered through ash soaked rags. This book made such an impression that I carry the worrisome images with me daily. It has made me even more conscious of my water usage.

Over on Lois' blog she has written a really neat piece about witnessing the natural activity of a beautiful hawk in her back yard while she was making tea. Water is a consideration here, of course.

When we do Bible study we frequently use the "African Method" wherein the scripture is read the first time through aloud to us and we are asked what phrase jumps out for us, and the second time for a particular word that strikes us. The third time is for what God is calling us to do but that doesn't matter in this discussion. When I listen to someone read I see the words. Maybe some black and white pictures, fuzzy gray , really -- stills. But when I READ the words I see the pictures like live TV, color, action. When I read about Lois' tea making, the only thing I could SEE was water going down the drain. I had to go back and reread the whole piece in order to really capture the delight of the hawk and the plight of the sparrow.