Guard Your Well

Well, friend, come on up this ol’ front porch like you’re stepping into your favorite aunt’s kitchen where the screen door swings open and the smell of peach cobbler practically grabs you by the sleeve. Goodness gracious, I’m so stinkin’ glad you’ve done shown up over here today. If you were any more welcome, the lil’ ol’ gray squirrel over there that certainly must be thinkin’ he sho’-nuff’ owns my woodpile would scamper right over here and offer you his best acorn. So, git yourself settled in real good, friend, because we’re about to be dippin’ our buckets into a truth a whole lot deeper than a clear mountain spring.

Proverbs 5:15 and 18 says, “Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” Back in the day, when Sennacherib came stompin’ toward Judah with an army meaner than an ol’ wild hog plum cornered in a briar patch, King Hezekiah knew water was life. He blocked off the springs outside Jerusalem and dug a tunnel so the city could drink from its own water supply. That there tunnel still stands in place today, all 1,749 feet of it, plum remindin’ folks how precious water was in the Middle East. Wells, springs, and cisterns were guarded like precious treasure.

Solomon used that picture to teach something mighty important. He said a man ought to drink from his own well, meanin’ he should cherish, protect, and delight in his wife. A good marriage is downright like a fresh spring. It nourishes. It steadies. It keeps life flowin’ when everything else feels about as dry as a hayfield in August.

And the Lord gives us another verse to deepen this truth. “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22). Marriage ain’t just a partnership. It’s sho’-nuff a special blessin’ meant to be guarded, honored, and tended with care.

Just like Hezekiah protected the water supply, we’re called to protect the life flowin’ through our marriages. Not with fear, but with joy. Not with suspicion, but with devotion. A marriage tended well becomes a fountain that never runs dry.

Father, thank You for the gift of marriage. Help me nurture it, guard it, and rejoice in it. Teach me to love with patience, kindness, and faithfulness. Let my home be a place where Your life flows freely. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Alright then, friend, may the Lord bless your marriage today with the steady strength of an ol’ oak tree standin’ firm on a hillside. Let love rise up in you like cool water bubblin’ from a hidden spring. And may joy spill over your home with the cheerful energy of a lil’ ol’ bluebird that found a fresh patch of berries. Wherever your day carries you, let your devotion git to risin’ in you like a meadow lark singin’ its first bright note at sunrise. Go on now, friend, and make sure your marriage is sho’-nuff’ the well that keeps life flowin’ mighty strong.

With joy,

Gwen