On our last trip to Haiti, I took a picture of a row of our water bottles. We just take water for granted. The local water there isn’t safe for us to drink, so we buy five-gallon jugs of “Culligan” water and use that water for drinking, brushing teeth, or cooking.

It’s so easy to say, “It’s just water.”  Unless you live in Flint, Michigan, pretty much every place in the U.S. you know you’ll be able to rely on safe, clean water when you turn on the tap.

But it isn’t just water.

It’s beauty – Ever watched a sunset over a lake, seen the waves roll in from an ocean, watched water tumble over rocks or been amazed with a waterfall? Water is beauty.

It’s entertainment – Gliding on a sailboat, flying with motorboats or jet skis, ambling with canoes or kayaks, swimming or lounging in floats or tubes, water provides us entertainment. There are whole industries based on water entertainment – think cruise ships, gambling boats, or water parks.

It’s commerce – Many of us have water purifiers in our homes. To clean the already clean water. Or we buy bottled water, that is advertised to be super-duper clean or with added minerals to energize our metabolism so we will live to infinity and beyond. Years ago Sports Illustrated had wine connoisseurs taste and rate five different bottles of water. Guess which water won the taste test? New York City tap water. We spend money on water.

We also generate power and manufacture stuff with water. Businesses and commerce use and rely on water. It’s health – We prepare our food, we shower or bathe, clean our dishes and our clothes without another thought. That easy access to water not only is convenient, it allows us to be healthy. We don’t worry about contaminated water to put in or on our bodies.

It’s spiritual – Water is part of many religious rituals, representing cleansing, purification, or spiritual rebirth. Whether dunking or drizzling, baptism is probably the most well-known spiritual water ceremony.

It’s life – Plants don’t live without water. People don’t live without water.

It isn’t just water.