Dipping Our Buckets

“It is clear that if the well is dry, we cannot put water into it. Still, it is equally true that we should never stop dipping our buckets. Because when there is water there, God uses it to multiply our virtues.” Teresa of Avila, The Book of My Life (1562)

Today in centering prayer I had a dry-well day. Although I meant to stay true to my sacred word, my mind bounced from songs on the radio to e-mails at school and back again, never resting in the sacred word at all. Each time I would gently bring my thoughts back to the word, and each time I would stray away. I experienced no rest, no water, no consolation.

What happened this time in centering prayer is just exactly the way it goes for me many days. My mind moves here, there and everywhere throughout the twenty minutes. I experience no rest at all, just frustration with how much of me is in the prayer—my plans, my fun, my disappointments—and how little room is left to experience the Holy Presence. Even though these dry-well days are common, I persist in centering prayer as a way to move out of me, me, me into the world of the God who says, “I am the Living Water.”

Teresa understands my dilemma. She writes, “It is clear that if the well is dry, we cannot put water into it. Still, it is equally true that we should never stop dipping our buckets.” Today I dipped my bucket and the well was dry. Tomorrow I will dip my bucket and maybe I will feel a little wet sloshing on my wrists and hands...If not, I will continue to dip and dip and dip again, never losing hope in God's goodness and mercy. Please join me at the well!