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Steeped in Tradition
We finally made it to a local farm today to pick strawberries, and of course we had a lot of fun. When I first went a few years ago, I put my kids up on this big scale and took pictures of them. I decided it would be a great idea to track their growth by taking a picture on that scale each time I visited the farm. This time, however, the scale was being used as a display for some shortcake mix, so that prop was not available for picture taking.
Disappointed, I noticed how attached I was to that little tradition I started. It was almost like that was the only reason I had gone to that farm. Never mind that I took about 60 pictures and we did have fun. My kids were not on that scale and the visit simply was not complete.
This experience has shown me how hard it can be to break away from tradition when we have so many fond memories tied to it. I have come to understand how easily we can elevate our tradition to a level it was not intended to have -- thus forgetting what we set out to do in the first place.
Renata,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. You are absolutely correct that we can create traditions anywhere and about anything. And, you are correct that we can focus on traditions and miss the real reason that we're doing something.
This was a great reminder and a great way to get us thinking about tradition in a nonthreatening way. Now... can we apply this? I think we can. But, will we? That's a different question.
-Alan
Was it Vollmer farms? That became a tradition for our family during our time in WF, and we miss it! Right now we are missing many of our traditions, and what it is causing me to do is cling to the Lord and realize that all the traditions, nice as they are, are merely of our own making--so why not make new ones as we travel along? We can still enjoy the journey even if the scenery is different from what we are used to.
ReplyDeleteAlice (Ciao babe, what's up?), yes it is Vollmer Farms and it's all your fault ;-)
ReplyDeleteI WANT TO SEE PICS! pics pics pics! RENATA I WANT TO SEE PICS!! OK!? :-) We may come to Raleigh this weekend just for the day though.. so its doubtful we'd be able to visit you :-( but we will be picking strawberries at travis' dads farm. yippie!
ReplyDeleteRenata,
ReplyDeleteGood thinking! I'm blessed by brethren such as yourself who will honestly and objectively examine the comfortable, habitual positions with which we Christians indulge ourselves
Aussie John
Drea,
ReplyDeleteI missed your comment. I'll send you pics. Does your father in law have a big scale??? Maybe we can go too, hee hee.
Aussie John,
Welcome to this side of the blogosphere. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have been blessed by your posts and comments elsewhere.