The Sound of Water

 Something catches our ear. It is the sound of water! Quickly, we go and investigate. Has the water come on for our downstairs neighbors? Is it coming up to our taps yet?

The joy of a filled bucket and barrel!

We’re in a time of year when water is not plentiful. We get some rainy days every once and awhile, but on most days, the water coming from the pipes is limited to a couple hours each morning. Because of water pressure issues, sometimes water comes to our downstairs neighbors’ house without coming up to our house. We’ve actually learned the water-pressure sequence: First it comes to the downstairs taps, then it will rise to the lowest tap in our bathroom, then if the pressure gets better it will come to our outdoor tap (where our laundry is washed), next it will come to our other bathroom and finally it will reach as high as our sinks and shower.  

Lots of days pressure isn’t great, so water will only come to the one tap in our bathroom.  If that happens, then we have to fill up the reserve water barrels in each bathroom, the kitchen, and outside, all from that one tap. It takes time and effort.  Sometimes the water stops before we can fill everything up. But we take what we can get, and thankfully, what we can get is usually enough.

But we live on alert. The sound of water puts us into action. Our house isn’t very quiet. In the background there is often the sound of babies crying, trucks passing, cars honking, children playing, people talking, someone yelling, motors revving.  These sounds are normal and we don’t even register them.  A couple weeks ago someone was meant to pick Tom up. Tom waited and waited and finally called, only to learn that the driver had come to our corner, but not knowing which house was ours had just honked his horn multiple times, assuming Tom would come out. But honking horns don’t stand out to our hearing, so Tom hadn’t even noticed.  

Finding water elsewhere!

But the sound of water stands out. We have been sensitized to pick it out from the crowd of noises.
Our hearing for water has gotten sensitive enough that we can begin to distinguish the difference between the sound of water coming to our neighbors versus our taps. We can tell the difference behind the sound of a basin filling and the sound of it overflowing. We are especially sensitive to the sound of wasted water splashing out from a tap onto the ground, with nothing catching and collecting it.

It reminds me of times when my kids have been sick and I have woken up to every cough, sniffle and cry— sounds that I would normally sleep through, but which in a time of concern will immediately get my attention. My brain is on alert to hear them.

We know that if water was plentiful we probably wouldn’t register the sound of water so clearly.  It would just be another sound in the background.  It makes you wonder, what other sounds we could be hearing if our ears were sensitized to hear them?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that many of the people who were sick have gotten over it, especially the family that just moved over to the plateau.  They are all feeling a lot better and enjoying the cooler weather that the plateau altitude provides.  Some of you must have prayed for the trash truck to come, because the very next day after posting this blog it came.  (The first time in weeks!)  Our kids are home for Christmas break with us and we are so enjoying having all three kids in the house again.  Megan was able to study with Ma Imani last week and they have a plan to study with two other island sisters this week.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for water to come consistently to the island neighborhoods.  We are blessed to have it come nearly everyday.  Some neighborhoods get water once every 3 days, and some neighborhoods don’t get any water at all!  Our youngest has exams this week at local island school.  Pray that he would both work hard and not stress about it.  Pray for Megan and Ma Imani’s plans to bring others into their study time, and for the bigger monthly women’s study this week as they study the Christmas story.  Christmas season is upon us, pray for many opportunities to share about the reason for the season.