Longing for Water

Earlier in the week, as I washed my way through the growing stack of dirty dishes in what seemed like a thimble of water and later as I fumbled through another awkward, ungraceful bucket shower, I longed to have our running water restored. Mulling over these “hardships”, it reminded me of the story of the Woman at the Well in John 4. It’s a well-known story: Jesus enters a Samaritan village and asks a Samaritan woman for water. She is surprised by this request and Jesus ends up telling her that really she should be the one asking Him for living water. They continue to talk, and by verse 15 she is begging him for water: ““Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water”” (NLT). Like me, she’s longing for water to fill her physical needs instead of the Living Water that Jesus is wanting to give her. As the story continues, she eventually understands the deeper significance of what Jesus had to offer her, and it changed her life!

Thankfully, our water was restored on Monday, after being without for 6 days. But this experience was a good reminder for me that I should be longing after the Living Water even more than I was longing for physical water.