One of the most important things to acknowledge in life, is what we are grateful for. Life can get crazy, it can bog us down, or frustrate us. But if we are intentional about reminding ourselves about all of the things we are thankful for, our view of life becomes a little clearer, and a little less stressful. As Americans, we get so caught up in this roller coaster of to do lists, work projects, and running around from one thing to the next, that we sometimes forget that life is about so much more than those things.
Life is to be enjoyed, to breathe deeply, to love and serve one another. We have so much to be thankful for, yet the stresses of life continuously get us down.
So today, lets focus on something we are thankful for. There are a couple blessings in our life that we tend to think of first, family and friends. Those are pretty obvious to most so I’m going to focus on a different blessing that we tend to take for granted.
CLEAN WATER!
When was the last time, you purposely stopped and said, “Thank you God that I have clean water to drink.” For many of us, we haven’t ever really thought about the magnitude of what clean water gives us.
Clean water means life, literally life saving, life is not possible without water. And a healthy life is not possible without clean water.
We may take water for granted, but in developing countries clean water is a matter of life or death.
748 million people do not have access to clean, safe water. (1 in 10 people).
2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. (1 in 3)
Diarrhea (caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation) kills 500,000 children a YEAR. (1,400 a DAY).
EVERY MINUTE a child dies from a water related illness.
Women spend 200 MILLION HOURS A DAY collecting water. (The closest water may be several miles away.)
If you are reading this, and want to know how YOU can make an impact on this water issue, here are a few ideas.
1. Learn the facts about water globally and educate your friends and family.
2. Be aware how your dollar is or isn’t affecting lives. There are many organizations or fair trades that provide products we use every day. When you are intentional about where your dollar goes, you have many opportunities to create sustainable livelihoods, dig wells, donate water filters, and eliminate poverty. For instance, Three Avacados (coffee) and our shop (jewelry).
3. Donate or fundraise for organizations that are digging wells, providing water filters, and working on the ground in areas that do not have access to water. Examples, Charity:Water, Water.org, and Haiti Water Project.
4. Give the gift of water in someones name. Christmas is almost here, but most of us have more than we need, and many are hard to buy for anyways, so why not give a gift that continues giving. Donate to an organization, such as the ones I listed above, and give the receipt or a card with the information to the person that your gift is in honor of!
