Consider ~ Water

Water covers over 70% of the Earth's surface.  The human body contains from 55% to 78% water depending on the body size.  The human body requires a minimum of 1 liter of water per day to avoid hydration.  Some of that water comes from foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables.  Some comes from what we drink.

So, I'm going to consider water.  

Question #1--Before I started considering, how often did I eat fresh fruits?

I have no excuses.  I've had this information since 1987, when I read Fit for Life by the Diamonds.  I know that fresh fruits are very important.  But honestly, in the summer I might eat two or three servings of fresh fruit a week, and less in the winter when it was less available and more expensive.  I had honestly gotten to the point where I pretty much didn't eat fruit, probably because of the lies about fruit adversely affecting blood sugar levels.  I need FRESH fruits, because they contain the most pure form of water, filtered by nature.  Fruits like oranges, berries, apples, lemons, limes, grapefruit, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc. NEED to become a daily part of my diet.

Question #2--Before I started considering, how often did I eat fresh vegetables?

I have all sorts of excuses for this, including our refrigerator being on the blink.  I often times buy spinach or carrots or celery only to open the refrigerator and find it frozen and ruined.  So, other than carrots I've pretty much stopped buying fresh vegetables.  However, I do usually opt for foods with fresh veggies when ordering out.  I enjoy a good salad, love the Fresco menu at Taco Bell and will not eat a burger without lettuce and tomato.  I think what I need to consider here is the importance of getting a new refrigerator, because if it keeps me from eating out so often, then it would probably pay for itself in a year.

Question #3--Before I started considering, how often did I drink water?

I had become totally addicted to Dr. Pepper.  Honestly, the three months before I started to consider I would drink approximately 70 oz. of Dr. Pepper a day and might drink one glass of water.  Now, Dr. Pepper has enough water in it to keep me alive, but enough other junk in it to keep me craving more, unsatisfied, unhealthy and overweight.  Since I've started considering I drink at least a liter of water, sometimes two. 

All of this considering makes me think about the story of Jesus' chat with the woman at the well.  This story is found in John 4:1-26.  The woman sees Jesus and offers to draw water for him.  But He offers her living water.

You really can't consider water without talking about the association of water in the Bible with spiritual renewal.  Miracles often involved water. Water was turned to blood. The only thing between the Egyptians and the Israelites was a body of water. Water was produced from a stone a couple of times. Jesus turned water to wine.  Jesus walked on the water. Baptism represents a new life in Christ. Water cleanses, hydrates, revives and restores. You can't survive without water.  

Survival reminds me of the movie 127 Days (which you don't want to watch if you are at all squeamish).  The character gets literally stuck between a rock and a hard place, and with less than a liter of water.  He wisely rations the water, but after the reality sets in that he didn't tell anyone where he was and the water was now gone, he began to store and drink his urine just to survive.  This may sound insane, but it actually is truly ingenious considering urine is 95% water, and although it is totally gross, it did keep him alive.

And I think about how gross it is, but then how gross is Dr. Pepper.  I mean, you are drinking chemicals and dyes that you wouldn't think of ingesting if they were given to you in their original form.  Plus the sugar.  Or worse, Aspartame, which when combined with caffeine is said to give your body the same responses as it would to meth!  Aspartame contains wood alcohol and a chemical form of phenylalanine that is created in a lab using e-coli.  I didn't know that before today.  Just found it while researching and considering it.  I do know that anything with Aspartame in it gives me severe headaches, so luckily I've had to avoid it.  Sugar, on the other hand, is all natural.  However, although Dr. Pepper can be found to be made with all natural sugar, most of the readily available Dr. Pepper is now made with high fructose corn syrup.  The point is, you really don't know what it contains unless you read the label.  And now that I have, I can more easily do without it.

The label for water--Water.  I drink either distilled or filtered water.  Sometimes I flavor it with unsweetened cranberry juice and stevia or just a squeeze of lemon or lime, but I'm learning to like it just plain, too.  And the more I drink it the more I crave it and the less I think about Dr. Pepper.

All of this has made me consider one other thing--the world.  The world offers things that are addictive and unhealthy, but that might look or taste appealing.  Jesus offered living water.  So why do I so often find myself returning to the well of the world rather than the feet of Jesus?

A lot of considering for today.