Water carriers, come to the well

When traveling through arid land, wells are of the utmost importance. Sight of a well means life, for without it, one would surely perish. The painstaking job of digging for a well is worth every ounce of effort when water springs forth from deep within the earth. Life can be sustained. In ancient cultures, women were known as water carriers. Every day the women would make their way to the well to collect the water needed for their household. It was customary to draw from the well in the morning or evening, to avoid the heat of the day. The well provided not only water, but a place where women gathered.

This land we walk through, this temporal journey on earth, is filled with arid conditions that leave us thirsty and needing a drink. The elements of the arid land can be harsh. If you spend too much time in this arid land without finding a well from which to drink, you will quickly become thirsty. Extended periods without refreshment leads to struggle for life. Wells are essential, as life ceases to exist without them.

I drop my bucket into the well. Nothing comes up. I look deep into the well and there doesn’t seem to be a reserve. Maybe a bright light shining down the well might reveal a bit of water. No, it appears to have run dry. It is empty. I am looking into the well for replenishment, but no amount of peering changes the fact that there is no more water. I sit by the well, lay my head down on the ledge and yearn for a drink.

I know that this particular well is dry. You see, this well is filled with perishable drink for I have filled it with my strength, my abilities, my self-sufficiency – and these run dry. Perishable drink, will not quench and certainly will not last. What I fail to realize is that there is another well from which I may drink. I have a tendency to ignore this other well. Why do I choose a temporary quenching when what is offered is so much greater?

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

Oh Jesus, please give me this water, for this land is arid and I am weary and thirsty…

As I humbly approach the well of the One who provides Living Waters, I am sorry for seeking out my well and not His. I come to The Well with my empty bucket, which I know He will fill.

I am a water carrier. I am “a garden fountain, a well of flowing water“ (Song of Solomon 4:15). I come to the well to meet Jesus. There are others with Him; other water carriers drawing from the well. They are being filled by Living Waters. They are also being nourished by love, compassion, encouragement and wisdom that water carriers share with one another. They quickly draw me in. Now filled, we venture back into our arid lands, and bring with us life giving waters to those with whom we meet.