The quaint little village lay nestled in the Austrian Alps. Surrounded by emereld forests and alpine peaks, it had become a favorite of tourists wanting to escape city life. Located in the center of town was a glistening pond fed by a stream that wound down from the mountains high above. Each summer, beautiful white swans floated across its sparkling depths as townsfolk and visitors sat on its grassy banks. The whole place was paradise, some said. Absolute paradise.
But one evening, as the town council met to review its budget, one member pointed to an expense no one had noticed before. “Keeper of the Spring,” the line read. “What’s that?” he asked. “Just an old man who lives up the mountain”, another answered. “not quite sure what he does. Something to do with the spring and the city’s water supply.”
Perhaps this was an area where they could save money, they reasoned. And so they sent word that the old man’s services would no longer be needed.
At first, nothing seemed to change. The pond was not quite clear as it had been, but no one really noticed. But by the following spring, when the swans didn’t return, several commented. Others wondered about the yellowish brown tint of the water and the odor that wafted up when the weather was just right. Tourist reservations lagged, and the town council contemplated a national ad campaign. But no one thought anything about the old man on the mountain–until the day a curious few hiked up to the source of the spring.
Along the way, they noticed rocks and debris blocking the water’s flow, but the real problem lay at the spring itself. Its once bubbling depths were now still dark, clogged with rotting leaves and forest litter–the very things the old man had spent his summers working so faithfully to remove. And that’s when everyone realized. No one was more important to the town than the keeper of the spring. –”Having a Mary Spirit”, Joanna Weaver
King Solomon writes:
Above all else guard your heart, for out of it flows the Wellspring of life! –Proverbs 4:23
The Wellspring of life resides in the heart. If we care about living life as fully as we might, guarding our heart must come “above all else”. If we neglect this task we allow our heart to be exposed to a variety of pollutants so prevalent in the world today. Here are some just to name a few:
- Life zapping routines
- Physical exhaustion
- Noise and distractions (Audible and otherwise)
- Expectations of others
- Drivenness
- Negative thought patterns
- Harboring ill will toward others
Just like a Wellspring serves as the source from which the rest of the brook flows, the heart serves as the source from which our life flows. If the life flowing out of the Wellspring is tainted, polluted, or damaged in anyway its effect on what happens downstream is obvious. It isn’t hard for me to go through an entire day and give little more than a passing thought to the state of my heart. I do this at great risk to any hopes I might have of receiving God’s direction and filling. When I take the time to care for my heart however, there is more space available to be filled up with the things of God.
When determining what to name this new ministry we had to look no further than our heart. The heart is key to any hope we have of living the life God offers. The heart is the core of who we are. The heart is where God speaks to us most intimately. It is our heart that God wants to change so we might daily take on more of his character. Our heart is the Wellspring of life!
Are you guarding your Wellspring?
