“Love & Water” Ch 30 from Trampled Grass

A word from Curt

Two words today: Love and Water.

Two things needed for life.

Enjoy our essay on these two below.

 

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“You can live without love but you can’t live without water.”

–Sudanese Proverb

Six foot six he stood on the ground

Weighed two hundred and sixty-five pounds.

But I saw that giant of man brought down

By a thing called love.

–”A Thing Called Love”

 

I’ve been wondering about those two forces that drive life where we now

live.

Water.

Love.

Water and Love.

We live in the land divided by the rivers.

And all of those rivers flow into the Nile. It’s the world’s longest river.

It is arguably the world’s greatest.

It’s the source of myths, stories, and wars.

I’m from the land of the Mississippi.

They say in northern Minnesota, you can easily step across the source of the Mighty Mississip.

The Nile burst out of its source, Lake Victoria, as a full grown river full of rapids, depth, and width.

We live and work along the White Nile, the southern portion of the river. It joins the Blue Nile at Khartoum, Sudan, and continues its journey to the Mediterranean.

 

A river that flows, with no tributaries, through a thousand miles of the world’s greatest desert, and comes out smiling.

The world’s greatest river spits at the world’s greatest desert, the Sahara, and says, “Bring it on.”

It’s not satisfied to be just another river. It chooses to do something few other world rivers have the gumption to do: it flows northward.

The Upper Nile (where we live) is south.

The lower Nile is in Egypt.

Go figure.

You cannot understand our part of Africa, especially the Sudans, if you don’t know about the Nile. Everything here is about water.

Sudanese tribes have migrated for centuries, seeking water and grazing for their livestock. You don’t live, work, farm, or raise cattle, without water.

“You can live without love, but you cannot live without water.”

It’s a true statement.

But maybe it’s not.

I agree. You can’t live without water. Our bodies, which are mainly water, must have it.

Without it, we’ll die.

We’ll die of thirst long before we starve.

But I’m not sure you can live without love. You can exist with the absence of love.

But I’m not so confident a person can thrive. Our bodies are made to need water.

Our soul is made to crave love.

I’m not referring just to romantic love, although it is a wonderful thing. I’ve been in love with the same woman for over thirty-five years. That kind of love is so sweet. I fear I take it (and her) for granted.

The human soul is made to love.

It can be a person.

Or in the case of parents (and grandparents) persons.

It can be a Godly love. “But the greatest of these is love.”

I didn’t make that up. The Apostle Paul (who was single) said it.

As Pascal, a mathematician, said, “We all have a God-shaped hole in our heart. And although we try, nothing else can fill it.”

Not even water

Love. It’s a word we toss around.

A powerful word. A strong emotion.

It can drive a person.

I believe it can even shape a nation.

 

As the song, “A Thing Called Love” shares,

“Can’t hold it in your hand, see it with your eye,

But like the wind

it covers our land

Strong enough to rule the heart of any man.

It can lift you

It can put you down.

Take your world, turn it all around.

Ever since time, nothing’s been found

that’s stronger than love.

Amen.

May it be ever so.

Long live love.

 

See “The Man”,  Johnny Cash, sing “Thing Called Love.” 

 

 

 In a dry land, every drop of water is precious.

 

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