“The Philistines envied Isaac… [and] all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. [So] Isaac digged again the wells of water…” (Genesis 26:14–18 KJV)
The wells of the fathers were stopped – stuffed with jealousy. But that didn’t stop Isaac. What about you? How do you respond to setbacks? What emotions block your way when your work is criticised or rejected?
As a creative Christian faithful-preneur the wells of our fathers are waiting to be unstopped.
💧 Wells of Life
My very first thought when I came to this verse, through the lens of entrepreneurial ambitions, was to remember that words have spilled from the hearts of believers who have gone before me for generations.
Men and women of God have dug deep to bring refreshing life-giving wisdom to the world. Have I drunk from their wisdom?
Scripture teaches:
“The mouth of the righteous is a well of life.” (Proverbs 10:11)
Isaac’s determination to re-dig the wells of old should encourage us to draw from the lessons learned and handed on by those who have gone before us.
A pioneering creative spirit can often be a dangerously independent one, and prone to recreating the wheel when there are perfectly good wheels ready for the taking. Drawing from and building upon the wisdom of those who’ve blazed the trail allows us to go further, reach higher, and dig deeper than our fathers ever thought possible.
📚 Readers Are Leaders
Drawing on some popular but nevertheless profound phrases…
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Harry Truman
“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” Napoléon Bonaparte
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” Walt Disney
“Drink deeply from good books.” John Wooden
“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.” Christopher Morley
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.” Neil Gaiman
“Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.” Ben Okri
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Joseph Addison
“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.” Mary Schmich
“Reading, even browsing, an old book can yield sustenance denied by a database search.” James Gleick
“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” Carl Sagan
And from the Book…
“For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” (Proverbs 8:11 KJV)
“Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52 KJV)
Lots of words by lots of people simply to say…
Read!
Their Ceiling Is Your Floor
An exciting verse to ponder is found in John 4:38 :
“I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.”
In our generation, we’ve got opportunities so remarkable they would have been considered science fiction only a few generations ago.
We build on a foundation laid by the works and words of others. In our day distance has been diminished and we hop nations in an instant and the click of a button.
Yet here at the cutting edge of technology there also remains the need to stay connected to the rich spiritual heritage that could so easily be lost in the noise.
Cultivating creative habits that harness every technological blessing, whilst cultivating a respectful love for reading, silent contemplation, and prayer is all part of digging deep wells from which you can continually draw.
Be a reader.
And then be a writer so others can draw from your wells in days to come.
