cherished canvas

cherished canvas

Sunday, April 30, 2017

10 Hours Without Water



A white note hung around the door knob when I came home from the store last week. 
"Please do not use water during the hours of: 8am to 6pm on 4/27/17," it proclaimed. 
The note explained that our local government was contracted to repair pipes in our neighborhood, thus resulting in our sewage connection being temporarily sealed off.   Full cooperation was necessary to avoid backup of sewer water into our home.  Um, yep, we'll comply.  Seriously, who wants unflushed toilet water spewing into their home?
But I also realized it was an inconvenience of sorts, especially when a toddler is potty training and mounds of laundry have piled in the washer and heaping dishes in the sink, waiting for a simple swoosh of water to usher them into cleanliness.
 
     While I held the note in my hands and began to ponder those complaining thoughts, I was swiftly silenced by a clear, plastic container filled with clanking coins on the counter.  The word "water" delicately written on the container by my 10-year-old in red sharpie caught my eye and transported my thoughts to the land of South Sudan.  Twice a month a group of 5th grade girls gather after school to bond, laugh together and grow in their faith. They recently wanted to help others and connected with a book they'd read, chronicling a boy's long, incredibly difficult journey in South Sudan to find safety and



water in an eventual refugee camp in Kenya.  The girls decided to fill up their containers with change to help bring water and food to those in South Sudan. 
Famine.
Destitution.
This is South Sudan's every day.  
Instead of 10 hours without water, those mamas are clamoring for 10 hours with water at any point in the entire year.
Instead of wondering how laundry will get done, they are hoping for a place to call home.
Instead of trying to decide what to have for dinner, they are praying for manna from heaven or termites to hatch, or something, anything.  
 
I spent the 27th appreciating the little things and praying for and broken hearted for the millions that are struggling to find a simple meal and life-giving water.  I wish I could transport the never-ending spring of water in my neighbor's backyard to the parched land in dire need of a break. There's so many things in this world I don't understand and break my heart, but today served as a fresh reminder to look outside the walls of my own home into a world that so desperately needs Hope and the promise that it won't always be this way.  Even if a small drop in the enormous bucket of need, so thankful for the girls who will send their own money (and others who've contributed!) in a few weeks to help in a small way. 
At 6:10pm, the faucets poured water, and I'm more grateful than ever for the basics of life and reminded once again to never take it for granted.  

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