You may have been following as I have the antics surrounding Site 41 in Tiny Township. The County is intent on completing construction of a dump site over an aquifer of the purest water in the world. The United Church of Canada has taken a position of support for a moratorium on its construction. This issue has become all the more urgent in view of the fact that construction has already caused silting to appear in local wells, according 'Goldhawk Fights Back' on 740 AM radio.

Having recently moved to a place where a well is my source of drinking water, I have a keen appreciation for the issues surrounding this debate. However, the preservation of this aquifer is illustrative of an even more important kind of water battle each of us must in our own way fight.

Our life force, or spirit, has been likened to water in the well of our lives. It directly affects the quality of life we lead, the energy we spend and the joy and love we experience. It is the source of healthy relationships, our outlook for the future and our emotional and even physical well being.

People get agitated about preserving our water, and rightly so. But it is sad how little attention most people give keeping the wellspring of their lives healthy and abundant. Most of us get so busy with the minutia of life with all its cares and worries that we forget to protect the wells from which we draw life. Our life energy gets so easily polluted with anxiety, resentment, fear and other contaminants that we end up being slowly poisoned and not even knowing it.

The only symptom we experience is an awareness that life is filled with more drudgery and fatigue than perhaps it used to be.

Recently I have been experiencing a deepening and cleansing of my own well. I have found that changes in my own life have release a well- spring of energy

energy and divine presence that bubbles up from within in ways that are overwhelming at times. It is like a new shaft has been sunk into God's Aquifer of Life and the joy is truly amazing. I feel like a person years younger and have an enthusiasm for life that I can hardly contain. It is only in experiencing this that I realize how constrictive and polluted my own well had become.

God wants us to have a full and rich life. The aquifer of his Spirit is pure, refreshing and limitless, and will energize us in ways we cannot imagine. We must take steps, however, to rid ourselves of the toxins and sediments that constrict the flow of the life force within.

The first and most important step is to dare to be the person we were created to be; to love ourselves as God loves us; unconditionally, and to trust the vision we have been given. We must rid ourselves of the pollution of resentment and practice forgiveness to others who have wronged us. Doubt and fear will silt up our wells and constrict the life giving flow. Practising thankfulness to God however we understand him, or to the universe that spawned us should be a daily ritual; so that each day, fresh energizing water may flow into the well of our lives. We must recognize each day for the gift and treasure that it is.

Preserving clear pure water is a vital necessity and something that none of us should take for granted. However, how ironic it would be to win the battle for the physical water and allow the wellspring of our lives to become polluted. Isaiah 12:3 puts it best.
For the LORD, is my
strength and song;
He also has become my
salvation.
Therefore with joy you
will draw water
From the wells of salvation.

And in that day you will
say: " Praise the LORD"
Jesus showed us the
way. He said in John 7:38
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

With today's awareness of water issues, let us deepen our own wells and experience the new life and energy that only comes from God!

Edward Bellsmith is the minister of Trinity United Church in Shelburne and Primrose United Church. He invites your comments at trinity.minister@bellnet. ca