Healing Waters

“…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”—Hebrews 10:22-23

I spent the last several days in a town off Lake Superior (see photo above) with family. One of the big draws every year that brings us together in this location is a cabin, lots of food and fun, and of course, the lake.

Lake Superior has amazing moods. Placid and calm in the mornings, ripples and waves when it gets windy. Gray and misty on cloudy days, brilliant blue with splashes of turquoise and rust on sunny days, orange and pink and grayish-blue at sunset….. these beautiful colors graced us in a short period of time.

There is something mesmerizing about water and waves. As I slouched into my canvas beach chair and dug my feet into the warm sand, allowing it to trickle between my toes, I couldn’t take my eyes off the water, and more specifically the rolling waves on the beach.  The water would build up a few feet out, surge forward, and at a certain height, begin to roll over itself, a flash of blue and white peak would break forward and roll onto the sandy beach. Over and over, with an invisible tug, the waves rolled forward, breaking one after another, up and down the beach. The sounds of the waves breaking onto the beach were a lullaby in my ears, and time passed without my knowing it.

I think water and being around water can be so healing. I don’t know what it is—-the sound, the rhythms of the waves, the process of putting away electronic devices and just using your senses, maybe all of these things….but I always seem to lose my cares and worries around water. Baptism is a way God uses water and the Word to cleanse us and make us His children. In the text above, the writer of Hebrews knows this truth, as he describes being cleansed in our conscience, hearts, and bodies with water. Our physical makeup is mostly water, we could not survive without water, and water can heal us in so many ways.

Reflect on times you have been around water—a lake, waterfall, ocean, etc…  How has it (or how might it) bring healing to your soul?

Prayer–“Healing God, thank you for water. Thank you for baptism and the promise through water and the Word that you have made us your children. Thank you for the life-giving properties of water and the restoring of our souls. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”