Tag: water

Prime the Pump!

Jennifred Jones

Sometimes we let ourselves get stagnant, get behind, become dry, stale, things aren’t working…

We need to prime the pump to get things going again!

Back in the day when people dug wells and had to pump water by raising and lowering the long handle to draw up water from the ground…if it hadn’t been used for a long, long time, then no water would come up as you pumped the handle. So to get things flowing again, they had to pour a little water into the well (prime the pump) and get it running again. I really don’t know all the ins and outs of the process; however, adding only a relatively small amount of water to the pump resulted in LOTS of water coming out!

This morning, I was kind of uncertain what to do first, where to start…even wondering if I was capable! Crazy thoughts that come to us all!!

The thought came, ‘I need to prime the pump’.

There were still all the same talents, skills, capabilities, and ideas inside me, I had to get them out by priming my pump…just pouring a little water on one thing, one idea, one skill and bring it back to life, get it flowing again and I’d be off!!!

It worked! It wasn’t hard, all it needed was a little water and the floodgates opened!

Do you have one or maybe two or even three areas in your life where the pump needs to be primed? Take a look back at areas where the water has flowed freely in your life before and pour a little water on them. Get things going again. That’s all it takes.

The hardest part is lifting your hand to pour the water.

Let’s get started together. This world needs the waters we have flowing to sustain them.

Water yourself; then you can water your world.

Life As a Pitcher

Jennifred Jones

We’re not talking about baseball here…

We’re talking about pouring—not tossing.

Do you see yourself as a pitcher…a container of liquid pouring out on people wherever you go?…because we are.

We’re always pouring something out on somebody…

Pouring out words…good, bad, blessing, cursing.

Pouring out thought waves…good vibes, bad vibes.

Pouring out actions…helpful, hurtful.

Take a look at what’s in your pitcher.

What tap is your pitcher filling from?

Is the liquid clear and refreshing or polluted or stagnant?

Take good care of yourself so you have fresh water in your pitcher…that’s what you’ll have to pour out for others.

I’m going to wash my pitcher out and fill it with fresh water….meet you at the pump!


What I See in You

Jennifred Jones

This phrase has revolved in my mind many times over the past several years while thinking about different people in my circles. What if I wrote each one of them a short note telling them specific things, qualities I see in them that are praiseworthy, helpful to others, things unique to them that are of benefit to others. Yes, I have told some of them these things, but could it be more meaningful to have it in print so they could refer to it in times of self-doubt and uncertainty that seem to strike us all in times of weakness and pain?

What has prevented me from writing these notes to others? Fear that they would think I was trying to ‘butter them up’ for something, or that I was being ‘dishonest’? Fear of the personal-ness associated with genuine feelings being shown towards another human being that I maybe don’t know all that well? Fear that maybe these were just fleeting thoughts and weren’t really true at all…thinking I’d made the whole thing up?

Perfection is part of the ugliness involved in this equation, I think. Sometimes I have stopped from saying or doing something because it wasn’t true 100% of the time, and I didn’t want to be a phony or mislead anyone…because they probably don’t exhibit this behavior 100% of the time… just like I don’t exhibit good behavior 100% of the time. We are all flawed creatures, yet every one of us has good things about us that sometimes only another person is able to draw out. Every little seed has great potential—if it is watered and tended to.

Could I be a waterer and tender of others…pointing out their growth and good characteristics, encouraging them to continue on developing and doing those admirable things that are unique only to them?

Am I willing to turn over my fears (aka criticisms) that something good might not develop and allow myself to be stuck in the poison of perfectionism?

Can I take the leap of faith to choose only to see and speak the best in others no matter what they are currently doing, because they need someone to believe in them and speak good about and to them, and let that seed sown develop, however slowly (perhaps without me ever seeing it grow) and turn into something lovely in their life?

I will write one praiseworthy note to someone today.