THE KEEPER OF THE SPRING

      I recently read a story told by Peter Marshall and adapted by Joanna Weaver in her book, Having a Mary Spirit.

      High in the Austrian Alps, surrounded by beautiful forests and alpine peaks, a quaint little village lay. It was the perfect place for tourists to get away from the city life. In the middle of this town was a crystal-clear pond created by a stream coming down from the mountains, a stream fed by an ever-flowing spring of pure water. The town with its pristine pond seemed to be paradise to those who lived and visited.

      One day the town, while reviewing the budget, decided to cut the position of the Keeper of the Spring. They reasoned that this might be an area where money could be saved. Besides, no one was really sure what the job description of the Keeper of the Spring involved. So the old man, who cleaned the spring, was no longer needed.   

      After a month or so, the pond was not quite as clear as before, but no one really paid attention. But by the following spring, the ducks and geese did not return and some folks began to comment about the yellowish-green tint to the water. Tourists, who had crowded each summer into the town, stayed away.

      Finally, one day a group of curious townsfolk hiked up to the spring high in the mountains. They found the spring clogged with leaves and debris. Rocks and forest litter had fallen into in the once clear water, turning the pure water of the life-giving spring into a dead mud hole. It was at this point that everyone agreed that no one is as important as the Keeper of the Spring.

      We all know how important pure water is to the quality of life and life itself. We have read that thousands of people, especially children, die in places around the world every few months from the lack of good clean water. Our grandson, John Howard, seems to like drinking “wa wa” more than any other liquid. Water is required by every cell in our bodies, making it essential for us to exist. There is no substitute for water.

      Jesus knew this as he taught and demonstrated the thirst-quenching qualities of water. We have the example of water baptism, the outward symbol of the washing of the sin from our lives.

      Jesus also used natural water to symbolize the spiritual water that he could give each of us to satisfy the thirst for wholeness and healing. When the priest poured out the water during the Feast of Tabernacles, John 7:37 tells us that Jesus cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow within him.” Jesus offered himself as the source of life. This is radical even to us today. Then in John 4 Jesus takes a side trip into Samaria to give the woman at the well, “…water so that she would never thirst again…a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

      Jesus wants to be the Keeper of the Spring that is the source of our well being and our faith journey. Perhaps, we have replaced Jesus with other things and people who are incapable of keeping the living water flowing into our lives. It may be time for us to realize that the Keeper of the Spring is the most important person in our lives. Without Jesus, our spring, the source of everlasting life, will become clogged and impure, producing water that is unhealthy and deadly to our walk and growth as disciples.  

      Let us make sure that Jesus is in charge of all that flows into our lives, wellsprings of living water.

Rev. Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, August 4, 2013-07-30