The Fountain Of Life (G.B.)

     This Friday's blog is by a second guest blogger from Brasil, South America, Jemima Novaes.  Jemima is a young lady who enjoys reading, being with family, studying other languages, drawing, teaching Sunday School, playing the piano, and photography.  The pictures in this blog are actually pictures that have been taken by her.

     I hope you greatly enjoy reading the article below and the thoughtful insights that are included.  Also, if you are interested in becoming a guest blogger for "Articles With A Purpose" please contact me.  :)  God bless you and thanks for reading.

    Watching the birds that come to our little fountain, one in particular caught my attention.  He was so small and smart, and he loved to come refresh himself in the water.  I decided to research more about this cheerful creature. I found out that this bird is called a Bananaquit.  The Bananaquit is a small and very intelligent bird.  It is about 10 centimeters in length and feeds on fruits, small insects, and especially loves to feed on nectar. The Bananaquit is attracted to water coolers and fountains, becoming a daily visitor because the nectar leaves the tiny wings of the Bananaquit, heavy and dirty.  He needs water to wash the nectar from his wings so that he can maneuver through the air.

     When his wings are free of sticky nectar, he leaves the fountain very happy, jumping from branch to branch in nearby trees because he is ready to fly again. God, in His infinite wisdom, gave intelligence to this small animal, to seek a fountain to clean his wings and quench his thirst.

     I could compare this to our spiritual life. As the bird with its wings soiled and heavy with nectar, so are many people.  They feel heavy and tired, their lives are burdened with problems and afflictions, but unlike the small bird, they don't  seek the Fountain, the true Fountain of living water.  Instead, they try to quench the thirst of their souls elsewhere, worldly fountains filled with dirt and grime.  They only find that they are more thirsty and desperate afterward.

   People have always tried to quench their thirst , they drank of useless and dead fountains.  "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." -Jeremiah 2:13

     Even today, people used dug cisterns that have no living water, and they will never be able to quench the thirst that they really feel.

     In the Bible we can read the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4: 4. Jesus had left Judea and was headed to Galilee.  He had to travel through Samaria.  Coming across a well of Jacob and tired from his trip, Jesus sat on the edge of the well.  A Samaritan woman came in search of physical water, but Jesus offered her spiritual water instead, saying:  “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4: 13-14

The woman replied: “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."   Despite being sinful, she believed in Jesus.  She returned to town and proclaimed what had happened.  Because of her testimony, many accepted Jesus and believed, quenching their thirst for salvation. This water offered by Jesus to the Samaritan woman was the water that would quench the thirst of her soul - the Word of God to transform her and give her a new life, an abundant life.

Jesus is the true fountain of living waters, He can solve any problem.  He is inexhaustible and eternal, He makes it available to us as His gift. Jesus invites us to come to Him anytime and anywhere.  We can come and drink the living water.  Jesus said: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. (Paraphrased from John 7: 37-38)

     Like the woman at the well that had need of spiritual water, we also need something that the world cannot give us, our spiritual life can not survive without spiritual water. All fountains that the world offers is temporary and will disappear, but we can go to a Fountain that is eternal, Whose waters reinvigorate our souls and cleanses us of our sins. 

     We can go to this fountain of blessings where our weariness and sorrows disappear.  There are inexhaustible riches in it and in drinking from this Fountain our life will have a new meaning.  Jesus will fill the void of our soul and our hearts, He gives us meaning to our lives and transform us completely.  Free of worldliness the living water begins to live in us, we will be satisfied from the deepest thirst of our souls, we will find peace and we can become fountains ourselves, flowing with water from the Eternal Fountain.

     Go to the Fountain, Whose water is Life eternal, where all our burdens and tiredness will disappear, and we become new creatures.  It is well worth it!