THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

Jesus said unto the Samaritan Woman at the well, "whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I give him shall never thirst again."  Truly these words apply to all things whatsoever that men may seek in this fallen world--apart from God--in pursuit of happiness and fulfillment.

Whether it be the latest electronic toy, a big house with fancy furniture, dining sumptuously in gourmet restaurants--and all things whatsoever that constitute the so-called "good life"--sooner or later, every worldly attraction will lose its luster and cease to satisfy our insatiable thirst, so that we find ourselves constantly seeking to acquire more of the same, until in the end we are left with a God-sized hole that simply cannot be filled with the fleeting pleasures and satisfactions of this world.

I suspect that the Samaritan Woman had thought, If only I can find the right man who can provide for me security and all the pleasures of the marital life, then I shall be happy.  But sadly she had already gone through five husbands, and by the time of this encounter at the well, the man she lived with was not her husband.  She was--as the supposedly quaint and old fashioned expression has it--"living in sin."

The truth is, nothing in this temporal life is permanent.  The latest novelty or fad might entice us for awhile, providing a false sense of fulfillment, but soon enough these attractions begin to weary us and we are off to find a still newer and more promising source of distraction. 

Jesus told the Samaritan Woman that if only she knew the gift of God and Who it was Who offered it, she would have asked, and He would have given her living waters.  By this He means the Holy Spirit, who is indeed the gift of God Himself to the thirsting human soul.  St. Seraphim said that the whole purpose of our life on earth is to acquire the Holy Spirit, for it is by this means that we are united to God and become partakers of the divine nature.  The Samaritan Woman (St. Photini) was slow to understand, but once she opened her heart at last to God's gift, she was filled to overflowing with the living waters of eternal life.  May we also--having set aside all vain and frivolous pursuits--prove ourselves worthy to receive this gift.

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I encourage my readers to check out my latest novel--THE CHANGELING--at Amazon Books.  "Following her third miscarriage, Tatiana Anderson is devastated and teeters on the edge of insanity. Her wounds only begin to heal after her husband, Alex, arranges for the adoption of a twelve year old girl named Charitina ("Charley") from his place of employment--the mysterious quasi-governmental institution known as The Castle.  Charley is a delightful girl who immediately steals her parents' hearts, but then--three years later--her soul is apparently snatched away in the night and all that remains is a shell.  What follows is a harrowing adventure in which one dream sequence is succeeded by another.  The question is: shall the light finally prevail over the darkness?"