Dry Wells

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. –Albert Einstein

As I read this quote, I allowed my mind to reach into the past. I lived in Israel from 1992-1996. While there, I visited a settlement known as Ir Ovot. Ir Ovot translates: City of Water Skins. According to Numbers 33:43, the Israelites stopped at Ir Ovot during their 40 years of wandering through the desert. Ovot possessed a water-well that exists today.

As my reverie took me back to many visits to Ovot and its ancient well, I pictured the heat, waves descending and ascending, penetrating the cracked and desolate rocky terrain of this section of the Negev Desert known as the Arava. How devastating it would have been to the Israelites to trek for days to reach this, or any water source, only to find it dry.
As living breathing beings, we contain living water. We are created to provide this water to those who come to us in need. Water is a symbol for life and healing in many religions and teachings.

Unfortunately, human wells often become dry and even more often our waters become contaminated. Abuse, traumatic experiences, pain and damaging relationships, to name a few life events, cause our inner waters to evaporate or become ill suited for consumption.

Consciously, no person would knowingly go to a dry well in search of healing water. Yet, many do so unconsciously. To return again and again to such a place is, to say the least, unhealthy for the individual who does so.
When our personal water source becomes low we seek substance from others. Yet, have you ever gone to another person, seeking refreshing healing water, only to find this well dry or contaminated?
When we find a well that seems dry or contaminated, we should simply withdraw. We may for now, out of necessity, seek water elsewhere. Judging others for being less than what meets our needs is not an option. The result of such action is only pain for all involved.
If you unknowingly find a dry well, and you are not in a position to assist in its restoration, move on without judgment. This well, may be restored one day, and you may need its healing waters.
We are in this life to help and serve one another, but we cannot be the guard or judge for the standard of water found in others. We can only protect and nourish our own water supply. From such a healthy flow we may nourish ourselves and others.

As always, answers lie within. Awakening, salvation, enlightenment, the name does not matter; the end result is the same: we were created to drink and share from living waters that flow within us.
Give and it shall be given unto you… I am writing these words from a place of pain. I have reached a fairly dark and scary time in my life. I have visited wells that could not help me. Yet, insanely, I have returned, again and again. I knew the result before the trip began. After finding the wells dry, I judged those who I felt should have provided in my time of need. Judgment sealed a certain amount of my immediate fate and certainly offered no healing for those whom I judged.

Yes, we all need each other, but each individual is responsible for only one well. Find the source spoken of as Rivers of Living waters flowing from within. Within, we have access to the infinite supply of sweet, healing, life-giving water that nourishes this current reality we call life.

Give freely to those who seek help and healing; this may be as simple as listening without judgment or suggestions. Many times we only need a sip: a kind word, a loving gesture.
If you live on this earth long enough, you will pass through your personal Arava. The water in your personal well will diminish or become contaminated, but this season need not last. It is during these times that we turn to others who possess and share living water.