What Do You Thirst For?

Dear friends,

Thirst is a sensation we all know well. That parched feeling in the throat after a long walk under the sun. That desperate search for water in the middle of a warm night. That first gulp of cold water on a scorching afternoon or after bodily exercise. There is nothing quite like it. Our bodies know what they need, and they cry out until they receive it.

But there is another kind of thirst. It is deeper and quieter. The one we carry beneath the surface of our busy lives, and with smiling faces. We thirst for so many things. We thirst for success, believing that once we reach that milestone, we will finally be at peace. We thirst for recognition, for someone to see us, to validate our existence. We thirst for love, for connection, for someone to choose us. We thirst for security, for enough money saved, enough plans made, and enough control secured so that we can finally breathe. When we succeed, for a moment, there is relief, but the thirst never disappears; rather, it returns

The episode of the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel presents us with a woman who knew this cycle well. She had gone from relationship to relationship, five husbands, and the one she had now was not her own. In fact, she kept drawing from wells that could not hold water. She kept hoping that the next one would finally quench her. Then she encountered Jesus, who told her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.”

Jesus did not dismiss her physical thirst. He was inviting her to examine the deeper one. He was gently asking her to consider: What is it you are really looking for? What are you truly thirsting for beneath all these attempts to fill yourself? The things we thirst for in this world, success, recognition, power, love, and security, are not bad in themselves. They are gifts. But they are not the Giver. They are streams, but they are not the Source. And when we expect from them what only God can give, we will always, always be thirsty again.

So, this Sunday, we can sit with the question. What do you thirst for? It is very important to discover that only God can fill the space. He created within us. Only the living water can reach the places that nothing else can touch. May we have the courage to examine our thirst. May we recognize the futility of drawing from wells that cannot satisfy. And may we, like the woman at the well, encounter the One who knows everything we ever did and still offers us living water.

Happy Sunday, may we drink deeply from the only Source that never runs dry.