Water pot in hand her solitary walk took her to Jacob’s well that hot, sultry noon hour longing to quench her thirst. Surprised by a mysterious Jewish man asking for a drink her cautious, deceptive answers hung in the dry, dusty air. What did he want of her a Samaritan woman with a checkered past? Compelling conversation brought mercy in its wake and she was forever transformed. Knowing well her thirst, He now offered her living water washing away guilt and shame with his loving presence. Abandoning her jar her running steps brought others rushing to her Messiah and theirs a new source of life and unending love. Divine compassion gently touched her open to the Spirit hovering over. He thirsts for us too in those quiet moments of oneness when life’s demands are put aside to just sit with God. I offer Jesus the “drink” he requests by delighting him in silent prayer believing that in the exchange I receive the water “gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)