Left Outside Alone
Quickly and quietly the woman made her way towards the well
The sun beat down on her as she lowered the bucket down into the deep, dark hole
Left outside alone
By the tight-knit group of ladies who kept a running tab of who was acceptable and who was “questionable”
Left outside alone
By the whispers of the established insiders, who have made it painfully clear
That the woman wasn’t welcome at the well in the cool of the day.
So, to save herself from the awkward glances and the discomfort of being shunned
She had to draw her water at noon, when the sun was at it’s hottest.
When nobody was at the well
Cliques
I hate them with a passion
Because at the very core of our being
We want to feel accepted and find a place where we belong
You don’t see it at first
But over time, it slowly dawns on you
That you are becoming more and more isolated by the ‘in’ group
Being shut out by others is harsh and cold
Left outside alone
Means your branded ‘the outsider’
And no matter how much people-pleasing efforts you try to fit in
It doesn’t work
LEFT OUTSIDE ALONE
But there is hope
Because Jesus doesn’t do cliques either
John Chapter 4 tells the story of a woman who has been left outside alone
She isn’t named
She’s just ‘the woman at the well’
And Jesus unexpectedly talks to her
A Jew speaking to a Samaritan was a big no, no
Plus, a man approaching a woman in public was another social barrier
But in the ‘I don’t conform to your stupid rules’ style of Jesus
He asked her for a drink
“Would you draw water, and give Me a drink?” (John 4:8)
Right there, Jesus cuts through the barriers
That has held this woman in a prison of isolation
Jesus didn’t see an outcast
He just saw a broken soul who needed a touch from Heaven
Through their conversation, Jesus revealed that He knew her big secret
That she had been married five times
And the man she was now living with, wasn’t her husband
Not something that would go down well in the polite, ‘How’s your week been?’ conversation around the tea urn and plate of biscuits after Church
This woman no doubt knew her failures
She felt the sting of her mistakes every time she was shunned at the well by the other women
But after her one on one conversation with Jesus
She saw Him
The coming Messiah
Jesus told her that, ‘The Anointed is speaking to you. I am the One you have been looking for.’ (Verse 26)
If this woman in John Chapter 4 had still been wrapped up in the phoniness and hypocrisy of the ‘Well Women Society’ social evenings and gatherings
She would have never had encountered Jesus
Because she wouldn’t have needed to draw water in the midday heat
Jesus
Who made her feel
Loved
And
Accepted
Welcomed her into His presence
So, thanks to the mean girls who made her feel like an outsider at the well
The woman at the well finds herself in the pages of the Bible
She has been talked about in hundreds of sermons across the world for centuries
She was the first woman evangelist
Because she went and told the whole village about the ‘stranger she had met and He knew everything about her’ (verse 29)
There is no mention of the select group who tagged this woman as a ‘Home wrecker’
Jesus saw her pain and reached out to her
He knew what it felt like
To be shunned
He knew what it felt like to be an outsider
To be left outside alone
And just like the woman at the well
It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you’ve made
Jesus accepts you
And welcomes you into His presence
Even when you’ve been left outside alone
Wendy xo
Leonie Schlosser
March 25, 2017Hi Wendy, very well done, yes it is true often if we stop dancing to fit in, we become or do something wonderful. JESUS is amazing and such a great example of truely accepting who we are and accepting him, because he is enough, we do not need to belong to people who have a long line of rules to meet. good blog