Christmas preparations are driving me today. Stopping to “drink”—although a priority—is hard. But here I am at a well, inviting you to stop and ponder in the midst of purchasing and preparing.

We have heard of “her”: that woman at the well. But until we read her story in John 4, we may forget that Jesus was there first. He was waiting for her. Alone she came, and Jesus asked her for a drink. Because of Grace, the initiative was His!

Jesus’ break from culture and prejudice obviously surprises the Samaritan woman. Jesus has her attention and begins to reveal who He is. He knows that she came thirsty for more than water. He knows that she came not only with an empty jar but also with an empty heart. He sees her thirst for love, knowing that even five husbands and “the one you now know” were not enough to satisfy her deepest longings. She needed the Living Water, and He was here! She had come to the well for water, and The Water had come to her.

In this Christmas rush, as I desire to show love or meet the expectations or needs of others, will it be like trying to get water from an empty pot? Have I forgotten that I have not come to Christmas but that Christ has come to me?

I, like Israel of old in Jeremiah 2:13, can make cisterns for myself, while rejecting the Fountain of Life. But He came with Living Water that would satisfy this woman’s deepest thirst, and ours, becoming that “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14), which we are compelled by Love to share, just as she did with her village!

Let us stop and drink. Jesus is at the well. Jesus is The Well! This Fountain comes to us still! Emmanuel, God with us.

Lord, no perfect gift or Christmas cheer will satisfy our souls: Your presence will. Help us to delight in You this season and always. May our souls be filled and spilling over with Your love, compelling us to share the source of our satisfaction with others.

by Bonnie Greer, friend of HOPE