When I think about the search for belonging, I turn to the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4. We all have a longing to belong. She came out to the well at noon, at the heat of the day. This was a way of avoiding the regular gathering of women and children who would carry water in the cool of the morning. We all find our patterns of managing our aching need to belong, our need for community, or the pain caused by not fitting in and not finding belonging. We numb that pain with “drinks that do not satisfy.” Jesus meets her in her longing to belong and says very plainly that the water she drinks will only leave her thirsty.