In an early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew discovers a crystalline life form on a planet that is being terraformed. The crystal entity considers the terraforming a hostile act and retaliates against the humans which they call “ugly bags of mostly water.”

For some reason this insult has stuck with me. Probably because it is both funny and pretty much true. We are mostly made up of water, an average of 60% or so. In fact, every single cell in our bodies contains water, including our hair, fingernails, and tooth enamel.

Water is a critical, foundational building block of nature. Without it, the universe and everything in it, including Earth and humans, would not exist.

Water is so vital to life that it is actually a decent metaphor for God’s love. God’s love created everything and without His love it would all cease to exist. God is love, and He imbued everything in His creation with His love.

We can mess up our connection to God’s love with sin, the same way we can pollute our precious water resources. But God has provided beautiful ways of naturally recycling and filtering our water, and He has provided a Way for us to be refilled with His love as well, through Jesus.

“And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” ‭‭(1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬, CSB‬‬)

I may feel like I don’t need to drink water, but bad things happen when I get dehydrated, even mildly so. Similarly, if I don’t drink in God’s love as often as I can, bad things happen to me spiritually.

Dear God, thank you for my body and the miracle of life. Thank you for my easy access to clean water and my even easier access to you and your love. Remind me to drink you in every chance I get. Fill me up with your loving Spirit today.