THE WELLSPRING

John 4:14 "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." NIV

Moving water has a fascination of its own. Creeks gurgle, waterfalls plummet, springs bubble, ocean tides crash. The bubble foam and noise draw us. The water sustains us. We need water for our physical life, but it also somehow soothes our spirit.
Desert animals travel many miles to find a water hole. City birds cluster in birdbaths or rain puddles. Grocery shoppers pay several dollars for plastic bottles of water. For thousands of years springs and wells provided the only access to clean water. City planners designed their locations around reliable water sources. Hauling water from long distances was hard, thirst-inducing work.
When Jesus compared life with Him to a never-ending, thirst-quenching spring, the image reasonated with a hardworking Samartian woman. Water got her attention, for she was thirsty. Though she had come to the well to draw water, Jesus knew she needed more than physical water, she needed Him. She had tried to find satisfaction drinking from the wells of the world, but no man had truly quenched her thirst. Then she met Jesus, who knew everything she ever did. This man became a wellspring of life-giving truth that overflowed to her community.
What are we really thirsty for? Do we long to know the meaning of our life? Are we longing for the kind of love that fills us up rather than drains us? Are we forever trying to find acceptance and respect? Or are those longings so deep and buried that we can't even say what we want or need? Perhaps we can't even get beyond just feeling...empty.
Only Jesus can identify those deep longings and fill our thristy soul. Seek out the One who offers us living water. Come to Him. He won't be surprised at how empty we are. He knows everything we ever did. He's the wellspring who will fill us to overflowing with His goodness and love. AMEN