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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)

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