By Maureen Pratt | Catholic News Service

It can be a terrible nuisance, especially if we’re not dressed for it. It can wash out plans, flood our homes and otherwise create havoc. Or it can be so scarce that conservation regulations make it more limited, and therefore, more valuable.

But there’s another side to water, perhaps its scarcity, that has become more pronounced for me this season. It is water’s presence, and the lack of it in my environment, that reminds me just how precious this simple, clear and amazing liquid truly is, and how it can enhance our faith and our daily life, sustaining us well beyond Easter.

In California, where I live, we’re experiencing a deep drought. Some days, I find myself reflexively glancing up to the sky and thinking, “It has to be up there somewhere.”

And yet there is no abundance of it. There is only dryness with the hope and faith of replenishment that is to come in the future.

The lack of water, like the austerity of various elements during Lent, reminds me of how I often I take water, and other things in life, for granted, thinking it “has to be there.” Moving ahead, after Easter, I hope never to forget what a precious and God-given resource water is and remember the importance of other equally important elements in my life. It’s important to look upward, especially in a drought, beyond clouds, to find hope, even in scarcity.

During the Easter liturgy, we’re reminded of the strong connection with life and water in the readings. In Genesis, we hear about God creating the world, covering the earth with water. How important water is, that it is the first thing that covers the earth! How fundamental it is to whatever else was to grow and move and live on earth. It’s a good reminder when deciding what to drink: sugar-laden soft drinks or plain but vital water?

Water, when poured in the baptismal font, is transformed into something holy. The water with which the priest cleanses his hands at the liturgy of the Eucharist is hygienic and holy, a beautiful way of reminding all of us about the importance of striving for cleanliness, renewal and grace.

Water sprinkled on the congregation at Mass, if we don’t think of it as a nuisance and duck out of the way, is a blessed reminder of the “living water” that we believe in and a communal experience we are privileged to share.

As the children of Easter that we are, water becomes something intrinsic to our liturgies and lives and it reminds us of how, in the days ahead, the power of God’s love and beauty of his world is in the water all around us. It is a resource that, like faith, if conserved and understood, will sustain our bodies and fortify ours souls.

Pratt is a freelance writer who lives in Los Angeles.