Priming the Well

"Those who constantly appreciate others prime the flow of love through their own hearts.  Even if the recipient does not receive the gift, the giver is blessed by giving it."  --Alan Cohen, "Deep Breath of Life"

I remember a hand pump like the one above on my greatgrandparents' back porch.  You had to pump that handle up and down several times in order to get the water to start flowing.  That was "priming the pump".  Once it started flowing there was little work to do--you just had to hold the bucket or your hands under the stream of water to collect your drink.  It was the 1950's and I think that was their only source of water to their early 1800's house--one of those unpainted one-story "shacks" you still see in the South out some lonely country road.   Their daughter, my grandmother, lived not too far down the gravel road in such a house, albeit larger and newer (built in 1920), and she, at least, had pipes bringing the cold water to the kitchen sink--the only inside plumbing.  By the end of the 1950's one of her sons installed a real bathroom for her along with a water heater.  To us kids, though, none of that mattered particularly--although, I will admit I didn't especially like the outhouse--the hole looked frightening too large to keep from falling through!  What we appreciated about our weekend sojourns to Mamaw and Papaw's was the freedom to escape.  My cousins and I went unnoticed most of the time--until someone let the screen door slam--then we'd get a tongue-lashing from Papaw.   Otherwise, we were free to play in the hayloft,  or out under the trees where we played house, and even walk down the road a mile or two to the little store at the crossroads to buy penny candy--by ourselves.  It's those times our imaginations were primed.  I still draw on those memories. 


Perhaps more than my imagination was primed there.  Love was being primed in my heart.  Anything that we truly appreciate helps to get the love flowing.  And once it starts flowing there's little left to do except that we not impede the flow as it washes over us and the people we share it with.  


Father,  may I be grateful for everything in my life, even the difficult things, so that Your Love will be able to flow out of my heart to others who need it.


Link to song: "All You Need is Love" - Beatles

Link to scripture:  John 4:7-13

Take action:  World Vision