by Michele Sinnott                   Ireland                              20.03.23

Editor’s Note:  Michèle Sinnott works as a Spiritual Director/Companion, in Bereavement Support, Meditation and Retreat Facilitation. She writes Reflective pieces and has a Contemplative, Earth-based Spirituality.

The image that I have carried with me over these recent days, is that of The Well in last Sunday’s Gospel story, about the Samaritan woman who encounters Jesus at Jacobs Well. The woman comes to fill her bucket with water from the well at the very hottest time of the day, as she doesn’t want to bump into any other person there. However, she unexpectedly meets Jesus, who has stopped to rest alone…to rehydrate with a drink from The Source. What follows is a brief conversation between them, which opens the sense within Jesus that, really, she has a deeper thirst that needs to be quenched…And so, rather than filling her bucket, he wants her to fill Her Own Well with something she didn’t know she was searching for – Living Water…
Her Own Well had run dry…and was clearly in need of replenishing…
Isn’t that true for us all at different times along the way?
Our Own Personal Inner Wells can become empty and in need of replenishing…
When we have become depleted of all that nourishes and sustains us,
· What really has become empty?
· How has this happened?
· What needs to be refilled?
· What is it we need?
· How do we set about replenishing The Deeper Space Within?
· From where do we seek Our Source?

At times, Our Personal Inner Wells can become depleted for any number of reasons…
Sometimes, by an endless demand upon us…a too-free pouring out of ourselves, combined, possibly, with a lack of life-giving opportunities, to help us to recharge…
So often we’ve heard, if not maybe even engaged the phrase “running on empty” ourselves… It’s impossible to last that pace, isn’t it, without having to embrace the reality of the absolute need to allow ourselves to STOP again, to re-evaluate what is needed?
Refilling our Empty Interior Places, with consistency, sometimes needs to take priority, instead of trying to live through days and nights, below the danger levels….
“Running on empty” and living with the dryness of Our Personal Inner Well…simply put, are not comfortable places to be for any of us, no matter how it might appear…
We always have a choice…
On the one hand, to choose to fill our emptiness with that which is healthy and life-giving…
Or, on the other hand, to indulge in unhealthy and life-draining means…
This week, I invite you to STOP, come off The Busy Road of Life for a while and consciously take time to visit The Well of Your Being…
Look into The Well of Your Own Interior Self …
Become a witness what you might find there, just like Jesus became The Witness to the deeper needs of that Chosen Samaritan woman…
• What might you notice?
• What might you discover?
• How might you begin to tend to The Interior Well of Self-Care and Spiritual Well-Being, in a way that can help you to become replenished again with life-giving energy?
• And where might God’s Sacred Energy be in all of this for you?
• Can you or can I, honestly and kindly allow ourselves time to fill Our Interior Wells, with True Rest and Presence in God, in our own unique and meaningful ways?

We cannot pour from a cup that is already empty…
We cannot live with ease in a Well that has run dry…

How might we embrace the thoughts of these lines and turn them into learnings for Our Own Personal and Spiritual Interior Wells, so that each of us can live, not from a place of Shallowness, but from a Well of Abundant Depth?

Dip in…
Drop down…
Draw up…
Replenish…
Refill…

Blessing you with these simple, yet profound ponderings…

ÉIST Spiritual Companioning and Bereavement Support
One-to-One Accompaniment,
Supporting Spiritual Well-Being 
& those who are Grieving

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