Sitting at the Well

The conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman only happened because he, “tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well,” as John tells us. He paused, he sat down, he listened. 

Many of us have heard lectures about how we’re too busy and frantic. About how that busyness keeps us from experiencing the abundant life Jesus describes later in John’s Gospel. So I won’t rehash all those points here. 

Instead, in the spirit of invitation, I want to share some of the things that I experience when I pause or sit down or listen. 

When I pause I notice the life in my tiny backyard. The way the roses stretch out from the shade to reach out for the sun. How a cluster of small branches springs from each pruned limb on our lime tree. The sneakiness of a vine curling itself around the stem of a larger plant. I hear cawing crows, screeching parrots, mourning doves, buzzing hummingbirds, and squawking geese. A squabble between squirrels engaged in a turf war. The scent of  jasmine, mint, and orange blossom. A teeming natural world in a city of a half-million people.

When I sit down I become aware of how I feel. Sometimes I suddenly realize I’m tired. Or sad. Or grateful for my life. I rarely notice these things when I’m on the move. But they’re important messages about how I’m doing. 

When I listen I’m honored to hear friends share about their deep, sometimes unbearable losses. I have learned that my presence--silent, just listening--is the exact gift they needed in that moment.

Most of us will never experience God descending in a cloud on a mountain top. The things I’ve experienced when I pause, sit down, and listen are the small, ordinary ways we experience God. Ordinary as they are, they’re also profoundly holy--being fully alive and fully present in the world God created.

-David Neumann