New Wineskins - Lisa Solnik

The season has changed from summer to fall and a new school year has begun. Recently, while my boys were at school, I took some time to go through the clothes in their closets and drawers. I removed the ones they had outgrown, and shuffled items from room to room. I filled a little box with things that neither of them will fit into any longer.

I don't know if it ever wears off - the bittersweet feeling a mother gets when she looks at something that her children have worn.

Were they ever that small? How silly that this is still in their closet. If they were to wear it, they'd look ridiculous. It may even tear at the seams.

And because I'm a sentimental person, as I sort through the once-treasured items, I remember things about each one: The shirt from Grandma. The preschool "comfy pants." The "indoor shoes" from Kindergarten. (Because none of the outside shoes survive, right?)

These clothes, that are now so small, used to fit very well. But now, it's time to move on.

I weep as I write this. Why? They are only clothes, for goodness' sake!

Because it can be difficult to move from something old and familiar, to something new. The old was warm and comfortable. Like a broken-in pair of jeans or a soft, cozy sweater that has been worn a thousand times.

New clothes fit better and have some room to grow into, but they may feel weird, at first. Unfamiliar.

We pine for the older things. Why did they have to change? Why must we be taken out of our comfort zones?

Because it's necessary, when we're growing!

When Jesus came to earth, He brought change – which was difficult for many people to accept. His ways were new and different. The teachers of the law had a hard time wrapping their minds around them. Jesus understood this, so He told a parable – not about children’s clothes, but using the metaphor of wineskins. Like an old, stretched-out wineskin, their ways of thinking would no longer do. This transitioning process was difficult, yet necessary.

"And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'" (Luke 5:37-39 NIV)

This teaching is detailed in three different gospels, but I chose to quote the passage from Luke because it contains that last sentence: "And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

Change is hard - and Jesus gets it.

Just because we need a new wineskin or larger clothes or a different place to grow, doesn’t mean that we despise the old. It was good for us, in its time. It fit perfectly. We don't hate it, we don't mock it, even though it wouldn't work for us anymore. We enjoyed the wine that flowed from it. We're grateful for what it was in our lives.

And neither did Jesus condemn the "old wineskins" - the Law and the Prophets. He was not on Earth to abolish them, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

The old things were good. They still are. And it's ok to love them; it's ok to treasure their memory.

I’ve hung on to a few cherished items of children’s clothes: the sleepers my babies came home in; favorite blankets; a special outfit or two. But all the rest has been given away. Because what my kids really need are things in their size. Great big size 6 shoes. Pants to cover those stretched-out legs. Parkas and boots. (Because winter’s coming, like it or not!)

What new thing is Jesus doing in your life? Are you willing to try it on for size?

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19a)

Lisa lives in Steinbach with her husband, two boys, and black dog. She works part-time as a music therapist and music teacher, and writes when she should probably be cleaning her house.