Having Meaning for Someone

Today's Gospel story (Jn 4: 5-42)  is one of my favorite, the woman at the well. Here we see Jesus actively pursuing the spirit of a woman who has been cast aside by society. Jesus breaks all the Jewish rules of his time. He not only talks to her, but he asks her to give him a drink. When she questions him for breaking the societal and religious taboos, Jesus simply replies, if you but knew the gift of God and who is saying to you 'give me a drink' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

How often does the spirit of God come to us in the most unlikely fashion. How often does that spirit ask of us a gift. And we know it not. We see the circumstances in the most mundane manner. We forget the spirit of God that moves even the most common of creatures, and breaks even the most solemn of rules. The spirit will go to any length to touch our souls.

If you but knew the gift of God. I would like to make that my mantra. I would like to remind myself at every turn, somewhere in this circumstance, in this event, there is a gift from God for me. Somehow, in God asking me for a gift, he also offers a special grace in return. For God is not hampered by our societal norms. He breaks all containment, to reach out and offer us living water, water that quenches our thirst. Even as we search for meaning in our lives, we must also remember that we have meaning for someone, for the Divine.