Let's Go Back to the Well

Another Valentine Day is approaching very fast.  This is not one of my favorite holidays.  It is nothing but work for me.  I have 3 dozen treat bags to make for my boys’ party, and my back and wallet ache!  I’ve been listening to a lot of commentaries and programs on the radio about how to rekindle the flame of your love, how to reconnect with your spouse, how to love and respect one another, how to make time for each other, etc, etc, etc., and frankly, I am tired of it.  Hearing all these “tips” and well-intentioned advice only stresses me out. 

Dan and I don’t even celebrate this day.  We stopped making a big deal out of Valentine’s like 20 years ago, when we discovered that, for some reason, no matter what we did, the day always turned out rotten.  And this was when we were still dating!  So one year we said, enough!  No more Valentine’s.  So hearing about the flowers and the chocolate gives me heartburn.

Today, however, among all the chatter about Valentine’s I heard someone on the radio talking about the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.  This story of hope is found in John 4.  The person on the radio said that he believes that sometimes, when we go through a dessert in our faith walk, we need to go back to the well and have Jesus replenish us with His living water.  He is the only One who can quench our thirst during those dry seasons in our lives. 

When I came home, and finally found a minute to myself, I read the passage.  I drank it, rather.  I was very moved by verse 6 where it says that Jesus was tired and He sat down by the well.  I found so much comfort as I imagined the scene.  A long journey in the scorching dessert sun, feet hurting, back aching, our Lord and King, the Creator of the Universe, needed to sit down and rest.  In His full humanity, Jesus experienced what I experience every day after a long and grueling day.  He too knows what it means to be tired.  He too needed to get off His holy feet and rest.  What an amazing image that is.  Our Lord, fully God and fully man, is able to identify with us and us with Him, even in the most mundane of events.

The Samaritan woman approaches our Lord with her empty jar to fill it up at the well.  He asks her for a drink.  She belongs to a group of people who doesn’t associate with Jews.  Jesus couldn’t care less.  He breaks all the rules and speaks to her.  And not only does He talk to her, but He asks her for water.  The purpose of the encounter is to change that Samaritan woman’s life and the lives of all who are to read this passage through the centuries. 

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:13 

The woman at the well had no idea that she was going to draw living water so she would thirst no more.  When I think of her I imagine she was tired too.  Only, she was tired of her life.  She had no husband.  She had a collection of lovers and a hard life of sin.  She was tired.  She needed water.  She was running on empty.  Her life had not turned out the way she imagined it as a little girl.  Her dreams of lemon drops and cotton candy clouds dissipated as she grew up and reality became harsh.  She was tired.  But God had reserved a precious gift for her that day, - an unexpected gift, - a gift of grace.  The encounter with the Living Water would change her life and renew her.  Not only would her jar get filled up that day.  Her life would too overflow with the perfect water that only Jesus can offer.

I see a bit of that woman in me today.  Exhausted, spent, tired and thirsty.  I’m running on empty.  My jar needs refilled.  It is time for me to go back to the well and let the Living Water pour down on me and in me. 

There’s no way I can love others if I don’t allow My Jesus to love me first.  That’s the only reason we love, precisely because He first loved us.  (1 John 4:19).  By coming back to Him, He will fill me up to the brim with His love so I can pour that love into those around me.  Let’s go back to the well, today. 

As I fill up the last treat bag and curl the last ribbon for my boys Valentine’s party tomorrow I think of them, so young and full of wonder about the holiday, (they want to keep eating the candy!).  I decide I’m not going to ruin it for them with my cynicism about the celebration.  I put on a smile and talk about how much fun the party will be.  I let some of the freshly refilled Living Water in my soul spill over into my sons’ hearts as I wish they have a happy Valentine’s Day!