These words, attributed to Christ Jesus, were spoken to a woman at a village well in the heat of day. This ancient artesian well, known as Jacob's well, still exists today. It is located on the outskirts of the Middle Eastern town of Sychar. Here, some four thousand years ago, Jacob dug down a hundred feet deep to create a well commemorating his character transformation and his name change from Jacob to Israel.
Some two thousand years later, Jacob's well became the setting where Jesus encountered a troubled woman. Like Jacob, her life also changed. Here we discover that the well is not so much a spring of water as a living force within each of us.
This metaphor is alive, for in my own life, yet another two thousand years gone by, I, too, found this well. The images have had a similar impact on me, opening a spring in me, healing me, and setting my life on a new path.
Today this same spring wells up in you. Its waters are deeply satisfying. And they never run dry.
You can read the original story of the woman at the well in the book of John 4.