What does this phrase mean to you?
July 2, 2024
The blog I worked on in my mind just wasn’t going anywhere. Yesterday, I had an invitation from a friend to take the “Pond Tour” and I said “yes!” She had free tickets for Rebecca and me. By the time we finished our tour, I had my blog idea.
The Topeka Area Water Garden Society (TAWGS.org) is a non-profit garden club. The tour booklet states they were established “to promote the appreciation of water gardening and water features.”
Our first stop was the Colmery-O’Neil V.A. Medical Center.
The guide told us patients help with the upkeep of the beautiful flowers that surround the pool. In the last year, a pergola was built, and people come and sit and take in the calming sound of the waterfall.
The next stop was at the home of a middle school teacher who, along with her father, built her pond during the Covid lockdown. She can enjoy it from her inside view through her large living room window as well as outside.
Ward-Meade Botanical Garden was our next choice where we saw “three interconnected ponds with multiple falls and streams.” A part of Ward-Meade is the park that originates from Oregon Trail days with a Southern-style mansion and original log cabins.
Our final stop (we didn’t make it to all the ponds) was the 6 th pond the lady had made. Each time they moved the children wanted to take their fish with them! Not only did she have a beautiful pond, but flowers in several settings. Rebecca wanted a picture in this setting with her creative fence décor.
I thought of the various mentions of water in Jesus’ teaching, especially when he talked to the Samaritan woman at the well. She was an outcast because of her lifestyle and came to the well to get water when no one would be there—but Jesus was there. He engaged her in conversation by asking for a drink of water. She was surprised because Jews didn’t have anything to do with Samaritans. She asked why he was asking her for a drink.
This was Jesus’ reply:
“If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
She didn’t understand because he didn’t have a rope or a bucket.
Jesus explained.
“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.”
For the words “welling up” my Bible footnote says: “the expression is a vigorous one, with a meaning like ‘leaping up.’ Jesus was speaking of vigorous, abundant life.” (“The NIV Study Bible)
What does that phrase mean to you?
It seemed fitting that St. Francis of Assisi was there in the garden as we turned to go.
He lived only into his 40’s, but he left his mark! How would he answer this question?
