I got Grace (my 6yr old daughter) two gifts this year for Christmas, both from CVS on Christmas Eve: a piggy bank that counts her money and a Chia Pet. She didn’t ask for either. Don’t judge me; she’ll thank me later. These gifts deliver life long lessons of resource and growth management…right?
Piggy bank was an immediate success, as she looted the house of its forgotten change.
The Chia pet was misunderstood. The look on her face said, “what do I do with it?”, “how is this fun?”, “why do I want this?” This gift stayed in the box for a few days until I could sell it. “This will be fun, it’s new, so it’s different, but its what you have always wanted… to grow something.” She hung around while I carefully worked on her project.
The seeds have been growing, so she is excited about her puppy with the “broccoli jacket”. In fact she waters and checks on her puppy daily. I knew she would like it.
As the disciples were figuring out the new and different things that Jesus was doing he explained it this way in Mark 2:21-22
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wine skins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wine skins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wine skins.”
Jesus brings us something new, it is different and not always easy at first, but you’ll be glad when the broccoli jacket comes in.
Happy New Year!
Adam
Pastor Adam was born and raised in Seattle Washington always sensing God’s call to pastoral ministry. While attending Christian College he met Val, a nice girl from Orlando.