Water from the Well

Although this is NOT the well that was on our back porch,
it is similar to it.

When I was a young child, I’d watch my parents draw water from a well that was on the back porch. They’d let a bucket down into the well, wait a few minutes for it to fill up, and then slowly bring it back up by laboriously turning the crank on the windlass. The bucket would wobble in mid-air until they grabbed it with their free hand and set it on one of the wooden boards that surrounded the opening of the well. Then they’d pour the water into clean containers such as basins, jars, and pails. On “wash day” or “canning day” the bucket had to be lowered and brought up many times in order to provide adequate water for those tasks. Yet, despite the number of buckets that were drawn up, water was always available. 

Although I begged to draw water, I was never allowed to do so because that job was for people much stronger than I. Thankfully, Mama and Daddy were strong enough to bring the water up and were willing to share it with my sister and me.

Getting water is much easier these days. All my husband and I have to do to get water to quench our thirst or to wash whatever needs cleaning is to turn on a faucet, thanks to an electric pump and an assortment of PVC pipes that bring water into our house from a well deep inside the earth. Regardless of how the water comes forth, I'm thankful for it.

As I reflect on the blessing of having an abundant supply of thirst-quenching, life-sustaining water, I think about the term “filling the well” that’s used by writers and other creative people to refer to experiences that inspire and instruct them so that they, in turn, can bring forth something of value to share with others.

I pray that my well never runs dry, though I’ve been drawing from it for many years. To ensure that it doesn’t, I read the Bible and pray every day. As I do my housework and exercise my body, I listen to sermons and Christian music at www.bbnradio.org. When I sit down to rest, I read what other Christians have written. I’m deeply grateful for insights others have drawn from their well and shared with me so that I can fill mine.

O Father, create within me a clean heart so that the water from my well will always be pure and satisfying, as well as abundant.

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

~Jesus in Luke 6:64, NLT