I just got back from Florida to a long cool spring. I did manage to miss the ice storm, so that was pretty great. We took it easy, did a few things we wanted to, but mostly relaxed by a pool. We didn’t end up doing everything I wanted, but it really wasn’t a big deal because we did almost everything I wanted. Why do I say this? Because it revealed something I learned about myself while I was away, it relates to another of the nine sacred pathways I’ve been writing about the past couple months, and maybe you can relate to it too.
The third sacred pathway – that’s just a term to refer to the different ways that people connect to God – is that of tradition. A traditionalist is someone who tends to connect with God through more traditional elements of our faith. Things like liturgy, common prayers, disciplines, and structure. For example: Communion, liturgical readings, reciting written prayers, structured quiet times, services with elements they know and love. And while I love new experiences that are purposeful and fresh, I also thrive on discipline and going back to proven experiences that take me deep with God.
So that’s one thing Florida revealed… that I wanted my family to revisit the places and relive the experiences that have been memorable before. I think deep down I was hoping to recreate the exact good experience, but I realized as we were planning the trip that doing so would be foolish and impossible. Visiting favourite places or restaurants is a fun part of going back to the same vacation spot, but to get the most out of it we had to take it for what it was this time. We needed to find fun even when we hopped on the wrong monorail and ended up at the wrong themepark, throwing off my masterplan for whole day.
Going back to the same experience or way of connecting with God again and again is like going back to a fresh spring for water when you are thirsty. But if you go back to that spring expecting the same drops of water, the sun to be in the same position, the birds to sing the same way, or your dry throat to feel exactly the same again you will be disappointed, because it’s impossible. Jesus said something similar “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 (NLT)
In this illustration both options still used a wineskin and still fill it with wine (same elements), but the old one can’t be filled with something new and hold it in the same way it used to. So if you are a bit of a traditionalist don’t let others discourage you from this sacred pathway. Unashamedly continue to use the structure, discipline, and experiences that take you to a very personal and intimate place with your heavenly Father, but don’t hold on to the tradition itself. Instead use it as a pathway to a fresh spring of life giving spiritual water from a Father that quenches your soul in a way nothing else can.
By the way, the monorail eventually looped back taking us to the right themepark (a little later than I had hoped) and we had an amazing day.