Asking for tap water at McDonalds (40 Days day four)

Today marks day four of my 40 Days of Water challenge. Surprisingly, it hasn’t been as bad as I thought. There have been moments when I’ve craved other drinks (orange juice and coffee especially), but on the whole I’ve been OK. Expect for when I tried to ask for a tap water in McDonalds. That resulted in a lot of confusion.

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I am starting to realise it’s not going be that easy to keep this up for another 36 days. It is very tempting to just have a small sip of juice, or a quick cup of coffee. And in a way, it’s worse at home. When I’m out, I have to buy drinks, and so it’s easier to stop myself. At home the drinks feel like they are free (although they aren’t), and so there’s a stronger temptation.

But what I am realising is how much I take water for granted. I’ve started to realise just how many things in my day involve water – not just the obvious, like drinks, but also food I eat and the things I use which require water.

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I think – and hope – one thing this challenge will make me realise is that water is something we have permanent access to, whereas for so many it’s a precious and rare thing to have clean water.

That is something which is not fair, and something which we should all seek to change.

40 Days of Water

This year, for Lent, I’ll be taking part in blood:water mission’s 40 Days of Water challenge.

The rules are simple – no drinks other than water for 40 days (excluding Sundays, which are rather enticingly called ‘feast days’). The money which I would spend on other drinks I’ll give to blood:water, who will in turn give the money to communities in Uganda who don’t have access to clean water.

It’s pretty straightforward. I’m also going to be blogging and ‘social media-ing’ my journey for blood:water, which is really exciting.

Because if I’m honest, I’m not really looking forward to it that much.

I’m not addicted to any other drinks, but I am a fan of many. I struggle in the morning without an orange juice hit first thing and a coffee mid-morning. During the 40 days I’ve got my wife’s birthday, a wedding, a trip to the rugby and plenty of occassions where drinking only water will seem a little disappointing.

But then the thing is, this isn’t supposed to be about me. I’m not doing this for health reasons, or because I think it will bring about a change in how I act, although in a way both of those would be welcome.

I’m doing it because there are people out there who don’t have access to something as basic as clean water, and I have a way of making a small but significant difference. Yes, it will probably be annoying. I’m sure there will be times when I want to pack it in (and I’ve decided I’ll fine myself if I do).

Mother Teresa said this: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

The prophet Isaiah says this: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

For 40 days, I am going to try and learn to do right and seek justice.

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To learn more about blood:water mission visit their website, and to learn more about 40 Days of Water visit the campaign page. You can also follow #40days on Twitter.