Garbage in, garbage out

John 4:14
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.

I love the words 'springing up into' in this passage from the KJV bible Where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. I remember going down to the spring behind my grandmother's house, drinking from it and wondering where the water came from. The spring was on the bottom side of a small hill surrounded by lots of trees. There was a cow path leading right to the place the spring water first appeared out of the ground and the path continued on down to a small pool of water that I am sure was the result of many hooves and thirsty mouths pressing into the damp earth.

My grandfather had built a rock basin around the spring mouth high enough to keep the cows from drinking the clean water as it came up from the ground filling the basin. As the basin filled, the water flowed out into a wooden trough and from there down to the ground and into the small cow pool. The extra cow pool water then made a stream of water that continued to the creek where the waters merged. The cows loved it and so did I. That water was the coolest water and to me, as a little girl, a mystery of invention as the water spilled out over the rock basin into the cow pool giving life to the most wonderful tiny ferns, mosses, pitcher plants, wild violets and other plants I would grow to love but never know their names. Those were carefree innocent days full of the wonder of growing.

Today as I think about the words of Jesus in this passage, and thinking about my grandmother's spring I'm seeing our lives like basins catching God's spiritual goodness then filled to the top and spilled out. It's for that reason we need to take care of ourselves spiritually and physically. "Garbage in, garbage out" as the young folks say. :)

Wellness tip: Drink your water. :)