Buckets

I was remembering field day.
Field day with its games.
Field day when there really was a winner and there really was a loser.

I was thinking back to a game we probably all played.
A game with two tubs on either side of a field.
One tub was filled with water and one tub was empty.

Each person was given a bucket.
You had to take water from the tub that was filled and run to the other side.
You quickly poured the water from your bucket into the empty tub.

Back and forth you went.
The grass got more water than the empty tub ever did.
You didn’t seem to notice; your team was counting on you.

The winner was the one who filled their tub first.
Your clothes were all wet from the water that spilled.
The grass became muddy in spots from the overflow.

Filling the tub was the most important thing.

I was thinking about something I always see at the beach.
A small child builds a sand castle with great care.
A moat encircles the castle.

Bucket in hand; he goes to the water’s edge.
He carefully fills his bucket with water.
He runs back to his waiting castle and pours the water into the moat.

All along the way water has dripped out of his bucket.
All along the way there are tell-tale signs that he has been there.
All along the way, water has spilled.

There has to be a better way.
A more efficient way.
A more expedient way.

Filling the moat was the most important thing.

I want to be like that child.
I want an overflowing bucket.
I want to run to the water’s edge and fill my bucket over and over again.

There are so many empty souls in this world.
Souls that need filling.
Souls that need Living Water.

All we have is our bucket and a job to do.
We have to know where to go to fill our bucket.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give Me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”  Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4:7-15)

The Samaritan woman misunderstood Jesus at first.
She was thinking in terms of real water.
She was thinking efficiency, expediency; she didn’t want to come to the well everyday.

Jesus was talking about something vastly different.
Jesus was talking about Living Water.
Jesus was talking about water that would fill you up and become a spring.
A spring of water welling up to eternal life.

The woman noticed that Jesus didn’t have anything with which He could draw water.
He didn’t need a bucket.
He was the Source of the Water.

Jesus is the Filled Tub.
Jesus is the Vast Ocean.
Jesus is the Source.

How wonderful that our bucket overflows.
How wonderful that others get watered along the way.
How wonderful that there are tell-tale signs along the way.

Filling empty souls is the most important thing.

We are not to look for the most efficient way.
We are not to look for the most expedient way.
We are to look for the way that will splash others as we go along.

Splashing turns to filling.
Filling turns to overflowing.
Overflowing provides the way to fill more buckets and tubs.

There is a drought.
Parched souls need Living Water.
We know the Source.
It’s time to start filling.

Get your bucket!
Splash a little Water over the sides.
Sink your toes in the overflow.
Thirsty souls are waiting.

Be like that child.
Fill your bucket to overflowing.
Run to the Water’s Edge and fill your bucket over and over again.

Giving them a drink is the most important thing.