O let all who thirst...

Today we celebrated the baptism of Jesus.  As I listened to the readings, I was reminded of the song "Come to the Water," a song which tells of coming down to the water to be baptized.  Particularly, I remembered the first two lines:

O let all who thirst

Let them come to the water

Jesus went down to the water to be baptized by John.  We, as followers, are called to come down to the water, as well.  Of course, with baptism we are reminded of the cleansing of our sins.  But I noticed that this song, which is a popular one to sing on this liturgical day, recalls humans' thirst.  We thirst for forgiveness and love just as we thirst for water.  

I don't know what struck me today about this analogy, but it really hit home.  Maybe I've been extra dehydrated.  This past Friday, for instance, I went out to the movies with Beth and Jackie.  Beth shared some of her popcorn.  I didn't have a drink to wash down the salty goodness, so I got really thirsty.  Through the latter half of the movie, it was all I could do not to think about how refreshing it would be to drink water when I got back to my apartment.  This physical longing is a good reflection of both our spiritual and emotional longing.  Whether it be the longing for a future-spouse or inner spiritual peace, these longings can drive us just like our thirst drives us.  Whatever our longing, I believe that we can find the answer by "coming to the water."