Wishing Wells

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. (Hebrews 11:1-3; 12:1-2 NLV)

All of us have “made a wish.” It is a custom as ancient as history itself. “Wishing Wells” come from the ancient Greeks who threw coins in their wells, hoping to keep the wells from running dry. There are many other forms of making a wish. The following list is a few of the common practices across the world.

 Touch blue and your wish will come true.
 Make a wish each time you eat a green M&M.
 Make a wish when you see three birds on a telephone wire.
 Put a watermelon seed on your forehead and make a wish before it falls off.
 Make a wish before you blow out the candles on your birthday cake.
 Make a wish on the first star you see at night.
 Throw a coin in a fountain; make a wish when the water clears so you can see your reflection.
 Make a wish on a new pair of shoes before you wear them for the first time.
 Make a wish with another person on a wishbone. Each takes an end and pulls until it breaks. The person with the largest piece of bone gets the “lucky break” and the wish.
 Make a wish on the first robin you see in the spring.
 Find a penny, wear it in your left shoe and your wish will come true.
 Wishes made on Midsummer's Eve (June 23) are most likely to come true.
 Hold your breath and make a wish while crossing a short straight bridge.

They sound silly don’t they? They are. That is not the essence of faith. Faith is not making a wish. It is not hoping in some formless idea or dream. It is the essence of our belief. It is based in the history of God’s character in keeping His promises. I've always been amazed by what people will believe. In recent grocery store tabloids, the following headlines were observed: “Dinosaurs Honked Like Buicks,” or “Cow Mattresses Help Cows Produce More Milk,” or “WWII Bomber Found On The Moon,” or “Woman Gives Birth To 2 Year Old Baby: Child Walks & Talks In 3 Days,” and last, “Adam & Eve's Bones Found In Asia: Eve Was A Space Alien.” People will read and believe this nonsense, but refuse the evidence concerning God and Jesus Christ. It is not uncommon to witness in late summer the migration of the monarch butterfly. The careful observer may see hundreds of them clinging to tree limbs and other shrubbery as the flock rests up on their journey to a remote mountain site in central Mexico. Scientists have recently found 16 of these sites, ranging from 1 to 10 acres each, within a 100-mile radius where millions upon millions of butterflies from North America spend the winter. No one knows how butterflies find their way to these tiny plots of land. Each new generation that migrates has never been there before. Something programmed into their tiny bodies directs them to a place they have never seen, but which they somehow know they must find. These butterflies are one more example of God's creatures being drawn along by the mind of their Creator. They are also illustrative of the children of God referred to in Hebrews 11. These heroes of faith walked roads they had not consciously mapped out, following an inner leading to a land they'd never seen, a land prepared for them by God. We don’t need “wishing wells” when we have the hope of Christ within us!