Our dog Eva drinks from a water bowl that we keep in the laundry room next to her food bowl. It is elevated a little off the floor as we learned years ago that dogs can develop problems in their stomachs if they have to lean over too far to eat or drink. Anyway, we have done things this way for the 53 years that Janet and I have had dogs in our lives. And that doesn’t include the fact that both of us also grew up with dogs.
Our son, Andrew, recently told us about a relatively new idea in water bowls for dogs. Apparently, dogs drink far more water when it is moving rather than standing in a bowl. Some enterprising guy invented a water bowl that closely resembles an inside fountain. It circulates water through the bowl and then runs it through a filter system to remove impurities and foreign substances that inadvertently get in the bowl.
Now I never thought that running water was that appealing to dogs and so I doubted the research that went into this conclusion. Janet and I eventually gave in after hearing testimonials from other family members who went ahead and purchased the running water dog fountain. In fact, Andrew told us that his dog, Bella, drinks at least two or three times as much water as she used to.
Now this is good for a variety of reasons. First of all, it avoids dehydration and also keeps Bella’s system flushed. To some degree is also helps fill a dog’s stomach with water rather than with more food so it is also healthier and keeps their weight down. Bella’s energy level is even better than before, and it was great back then!
So Andrew told me what to order from Amazon and I received the running water dog fountain last weekend. He came over, set it all up and let us know that it may take several days for Eva to get used to the “new, improved” water bowl. Well, several minutes later, Eva was drinking up a storm…
The last several days it has become abundantly clear that she really loves the new setup. No foreign objects in the bowl, clean running water all the time and total access to water throughout the day. It did cross my mind as to how many more times a day we would have to let her out… We usually go downstairs to our lower level and Eva enters the backyard from there. However, much to our surprise, her outdoor habits really haven’t changed. I’m really curious how things will shake out several weeks from now after we have a longer experience under our belts.
When I was in seminary, I was struck by how many times we read about running water throughout the Bible. It seems that several of the psalms mentioned trees along a river or body of water that tie the experience into motivation and feelings of closeness to God. The Old Testament is full of these references. For example, we are told by the psalmist in Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Of course in the New Testament, Jesus refers to Himself as “living water.” He informs those who partake of the living water that they will never be thirsty again. This water, Jesus Himself, is clearly vastly different from standing water. There is a clear distinction between the two. But I find it interesting that people and, apparently, dogs are both driven to water with movement. That’s one reason why lake and river properties are so important. There is something mesmerizing about watching the movement of water – whether it be a waterfall, wind across the surface or a mountain stream. We live on a small pond and it brings us constant enjoyment as we watch the ever changing water.
Even though we have already had a verse for tonight, I thought a verse from the New Testament may help tie this all together. The apostle John quotes Jesus in his Gospel many times. The apostle tells us, once again, the words of Jesus, in John 7:37-38, “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.”
That’s an incredible statement from Jesus. Not only is Jesus living water, but through the Holy Spirit, we will all experience the miracle of being streams of living water. I don’t know that I have ever really thought about that before. How exciting. My encouragement this evening is that we all benefit from recognizing Jesus as “living water.” And even watching Eva drinking from her new indoor fountain this week has once again helped me realize how exciting it is to be around running water. My prayer is that each of us will experience Jesus in all His fullness and majesty – and that we will turn to Him for nourishment, refreshment and rejuvenation. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…