Favorite Drink and Favorite Bird... if that's not a stretch, I don't know what is.

"Favorite Drink" was hard. I mean, if you think about it, everyone's favorite drink is WATER, no matter how you flavor it. Without water, there is no other "drink."

My favorite drink is dependent upon time of day, temperature, attitude, atmosphere, availability... If it's cold outside, I like hot cocoa. If I've been working in the heat of the day in the garden, a cold beer is refreshing. In the morning, it's hot tea or hot coffee. In the evening, it's a toddy or a nice glass of wine. Wine seems to be the go-to drink of late (and it's easy to draw, so...)

Day 7 is "Favorite Bird."

I like pretty much all birds, from eagles to finches. I love the ones that come to my feeders, and I love the bright flashes of blue or yellow that come from our resident pairs throughout the year.

Last year we were visited by several pairs of Eurasian ring-necked doves. When they are calm, they "coo." Apparently, like coyotes and raccoons and skunks, these doves are incredibly adaptable. Their range is expanding every year.

It makes me think about being a Christian; a believer in Christ, the son of God, who came to save us and grant us (everyone who would believe) eternal life. Christians these days are about as inflexible and unadaptable as a species can possibly be. It makes me wonder... will we continue to "lose ground" and be relegated to the realm of "endangered species," or will we figure out that God's love for the world was always intended to be adaptable and flexible, a supernatural flow that rolls around and over every human obstacle, every religious monument, every demonic wall erected, to bring life and love and peace and goodness to mankind.

Somehow, I think Jesus intended his followers to be more like coyotes and pigeons than like purebred dogs at the Westminster Dog Show or rare-breed parrots in a collector's collection.

My 32 oz. water bottle stares at me with its imaginary eyes. It accuses, mocks, dares me to drink it. Drain me, it cries. Drink me!

It's mocking me.

I hate to drink water. It's a lifelong issue that has even caused me to pass out from heat exhaustion twice. Two different birthdays at the amusement park. That's a fun way to celebrate, huh? NOT.

This month, a succession of odd aches and pains, insomnia, headaches, and fatigue had my chiropractor's words of advice (warning?) ringing in my head. He can apparently tell whether I'm properly hydrated or not during an adjustment. And whether an adjustment holds, he has said, depends greatly on the amount of H20 in my system. Get hydrated, he told me, "It's the best thing you can do for yourself."

Blech. I've heard it before. I've ignored it before. But I'm not good at feeling bad, and lying awake with muscle cramps in my legs and that weird twitchy feet thing is unacceptable. Finally, after a couple of sleepless nights (because I must be really stubborn), I asked for wisdom and almost instantly heard the Holy Spirit murmur, "You're dehydrated, dummy. Drink water." Ouch. Most of the time God is really nice to me when we chat. So when I get impressions like that one, I know I've been guilty of failing to hearken to His voice.


Drinking more water was actually on my list of New Year's resolutions. Since I haven't been doing very well and needed a bit of motivation, I got online and did some research.

• Humans are the only creatures on the planet that regularly drink substances besides water.
• The human body is 75% water. Yada-yada-yada. Everybody remembers that from biology class, right? What I didn't know is that the BRAIN is 85% water. That's right, your brain is only 15% gray matter and two-thirds plain old water. Maybe those old studies showing that we only use 10% of our brains would be different if we were fully hydrated.
• In a dehydrated state, the body "borrows" water from itself, whether from the blood, the brain, or the lungs. This internal debt load may cause temporary or chronic health problems. 
• At least 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
• "For every 1% of water weight that we lose, our capacity to do work or exercise goes down 10%.So, if we lose 3% of our water weight, our capacity goes down by about a third.Example: A person weighs 160 pounds and he is 75% water. So he has, or is, 120 pounds water. If he loses just 1.2 pounds of water his ability in whatever physical activity he's engaging in, gets 10% worse."1 (Maybe the Denver Broncos are dehydrated this year.) 
• Some studies show up to 80 percent of back and joint pain could be relieved simply by taking in enough water.
• People who drink just 5 glasses of water a day can reduce their risk of cancer by double-digits.
• Ailments thought to caused, or at least exacerbated by dehydration include: asthma, allergies, hypertension, fatigue, gout, depression, even diabetes.
• Maintaining the proper water intake reduces risk of heart attack by up to 45 percent.

There's a lot more, but I won't go into it all here. Books like You're Not Sick, You're Thirsty, The Water Prescription, and Your Body's Many Cries for Water share detailed case studies of people for whom the simple act of drinking plenty of water has been a miracle cure for life-threatening ailments. 

None of that, however, changes the fact that I hate to drink water. I'd rather have tea, or coffee, or diet soda. I've tried adding lemon. I've used Crystal Light. I've bought bottled water, a stainless steel water container, a plastic water bottle. I've tried drinking through a straw. You get the picture.

Water Your Body

But a recent post by my Inkwell Inspirations co-blogger Debra Marvin about using an app on her iPod to record her calorie intake inspired me to seek out a water-tracking app to go with my calorie-counting app.

I found one on sale for 99 cents called Water Your Body. That makes sense: I water my plants, and my yard, and my pet. Every responsible pet owner knows their critters must have access to clean, fresh water at all times. Even if they choose to make the toilet their source of water, we still provide a bowl of fresh water, right? We hydrate our dogs better than we hydrate ourselves!

Anyway, back to the app. It has cute graphics and, best of all, gives me a letter grade at the end of each day based on my water consumption. For someone who can't stand to get a "B," chugging toward that "A" is a great motivator! To get an "A", I can make myself drink my water.

Ha ha! All gone!

My point? Find your motivator for the thing you know you need to do or want to do, but just can't seem to DO - whether it's controlling your calorie intake or maintaining a daily time of prayer and fellowship with God or keeping your dishes from piling up in the sink. What will provide you with the internal satisfaction you need to keep up the good work? For me, it's having my phone tell me I got an "A" in water-drinking yesterday. What will it be for you?










1 http://www.healthy-water-best-filters.com/symptoms-dehydration.html

It's been pretty warm around here. Not nearly as hot as the East coast this summer, but western Colorado's semi-arid climate literally sucks you dry. Forget to drink enough water and dehydration sets in fast.

During certain seasons of life it's easy to get spiritually dehydrated. Periods of intense stress (an ailing parent or child, marital problems, health issues, financial trouble, etc.), and times of transition (changing careers, moving, new parents, new empty nesters, home remodeling, puberty, menopause, college, etc.), are seasons of life that lend themselves to spiritual dehydration.

Symptom #1: Thirst and/or loss of appetite. Just like natural thirst, many of us don't recognize spiritual thirst anymore. We try to satisfy that vague sense of dissatisfaction with food, entertainment, or retail therapy.
I'm one of those people who hates to drink water. When water seems the most repulsive is when I need it the most. A loss of appetite for the things of God - His Word, prayer, worship, praise - is a pretty clear indicator you are spiritually thirsty.


Symptom #2: Fatigue, weakness or chills. Living in a perpetual state of fatigue and exhaustion is not normal. Seriously. Spiritual fatigue can show up as fear, apathy, withdrawal, isolation or susceptibility to temptation. Being "too tired" to do anything is ABNORMAL for believers! Feeling spiritually cold and insensitive is an indication you are probably dehydrated, though the enemy of our souls likes to tell us we're just "bad Christians" when we experience those symptoms. No, you aren't bad, you just need a drink!

Jesus talked about water and thirst and drinking a lot. He lived in a hot, arid climate. The people around Him  understood the importance of staying hydrated. Just getting enough water to survive was a major expenditure of time and energy. It was critical for survival, and Jesus wanted them (and us) to understand preventing spiritual dehydration is just as important.

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 7:37-39 (from New International Version)

We don't have to suffer repeated bouts of Christian heatstroke if we'll stay hydrated, conscious that in certain seasons, it's important to drink more, not less. It figures that those times when we need to be spiritually hydrating ourselves the most are the times when we are the busiest, the most distracted, and the most likely to shuffle our relationship with God to the bottom of the to-do list.

If you are a believer, the Spirit of God lives within you and is a continual source of living water. You don't have to wait for rain, you have to tap in to the artesian well that is the life of God within you! I like these instructions from Act 3:19 in the Amplified:

So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord;

Repent? Think about it this way: If you were marching through the desert and getting dehydrated, and there was an oasis just behind you, wouldn't it make sense to run back to that oasis and get a drink? When and where was the last time and place you felt spiritually hydrated? In praise and worship? While reading your Bible? Praying? Fellowshipping with others? That's your oasis. Now change your mind and purpose: Make that oasis your number one priority.

Need a place to start? I've been listening to the following song, appropriately titled The Desert Song by Hillsong. Sing it through a few times, meditate on the lyrics. And let that river of Living Water in your spirit begin to flow freely with praise, with worship, with thanksgiving.

Here's to a well-hydrated week, no matter what season of life you're in right now!
GO GET A DRINK!


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