Skip to main content

Good Enough


Traditions bring meaning to our lives. They serve as reminders of various passages of time or as memories of meaningful celebrations of the past. They usually have a story connected with them that can be shared for generations.

One tradition that I bring to my family is serving oyster stew and fried egg sandwiches on Christmas Eve. My family background is one of farmers. Oyster stew was an easy, hearty meal for the women to prepare before the grand preparation the next day for Christmas dinner. Besides, oysters were cheap and plentiful by the bucket.

My husband brings the tradition of chitterlings on New Years Day. That brought the need of everyone to pitch in and clean their share. Ol' Dad Rufus would say,"If you don't clean 'em, you don't eat 'em!" There was always a certain bonding that took place around the kitchen sink as you cleaned and held your nose! But lately, my husband has opted to replace that tradition with a more pleasing and less pungent one, i.e. homemade gumbo. Each year, our gumbo seems to draw more family and friends to share in the spicy soup.

Traditions can bring meaningful structure to our lives, but they also have potential to stifle us. We can become boxed in and develop myopic vision. Tradition can become an oppressive, overwhelming burden that smothers us, especially when the true intention is lost.

Jesus experienced the use of traditions in that manner from the religious teachers and leaders of his day. They held onto their interpretation of righteous living and their way of keeping their laws. It didn't seem to matter what God's intent was for a holy life. Jesus' response to their tried and true traditions was that the time had come "to put new wine into fresh wineskins, for to put new wine into old wineskins will burst the skins and waste the wine." No one puts new wine into old skins . . .

Sometimes, we miss the blessing of the new when we cling to our old, obsolete traditions. We settle for the old being good enough, just because that is what we've always done. This year, I want to be poured into new wineskins, to experience life more openly. I want more love, grace, and joy to flow through me. I want more than "good enough" . . .

"But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"
(Luke 5:38-39)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hummingbird Lessons

My eye caught a small round mound stuck upon a branch.  Looking closer, I found indeed it was the start of a hummingbird nest.  And yes, I now had the mother hummingbird buzzing around my head, reminding me that I was in her space.  I have been able to witness at least 3 other hummingbird families come to life, and I was always mesmerized by these "tiny vulnerabilities" becoming resilient birds in only a matter of five to six weeks.  The nest was right out my patio door, and I had the best view to watch them daily.  I was smiling. I had a hunch that babies would be coming soon, because our hummingbird feeder had been especially sucked dry only a few weeks earlier.  One day I found at least 4 hummingbirds at one time feeding, which is highly unusual because most times they come one at a time and don't seem to want to share the space.  If they would share, it was two only at a the bar and of course on opposite sides.  I was filling that feeder at le...
Post a Comment
Read more

Awe

  The thunder resounded with a loud clap! Certainly, it came as an afternoon surprise.  The expected rain seemed less than what was forecasted, but with the thunder came a bucket of heavy raindrops splashing against my kitchen window.  I wanted to take it all in, the fresh aroma of falling rain and the beauty of water drops hitting the leaves of my nasturtium and petunia hanging baskets.  Unfortunately, the rain cloud quickly fled, running away into the eastern sky.  But then the sun made its way onto the scene, and I was drawn to a thick band of rainbow colors shining up at me.  The western sky was magnificently orange, completely bound up tight with that solo color scheme.  I went outside to catch it all before it would disappear.  Creation again was causing me to pause in awe and wonder. . . Awe is that reverential wonder, that even includes fear and respect.  It is only a 3 letter word, but it takes bigger and grander words to define it....
Post a Comment
Read more

Complicated Relationship Living

Today is Mom's birthday.  If she were here,  we would be celebrating her 109th day of life.  I can't believe that it has already been 20 years since she said goodbye to earthly living.   I was much too young back then, at the age of 45, to lose my Mom.  You always long for at least one more conversation to ask the questions you didn't get a chance to do.  You often wished you would have had more talks, especially as you find yourself on a different side of life, other wise known as the senior years. As parents we always desire to keep our family ties together and close, but it doesn't always work out that way.  When our  parents were still living, and as they grew more elderly, they of course were the bond that brought my brothers and myself together.  As adult children, we each had a unique relationship to them, but I am realizing now, that we didn't necessarily have a tie with one another.  We were children of the nuclear family, ...
Post a Comment
Read more