Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Wine

Image of a wine skin receptacleTwo thousand years ago, a vintner’s method for making wine involved the use of animal skins. As the grapes’ juice aged into wine, the fermentation caused the skin to swell and expand. Wineskins were used only once, since pouring new wine into old wineskins would cause an already utterly stretched skin to burst, thus squandering the new wine.

New wine required a new wineskin to ensure that both the wine and the skin were protected.

All of us want new things in our lives—a new opportunity, a new adventure. Perhaps your spirit has been inspired by a book you’ve read, or a conference you’ve attended or a person you’ve met, but quickly the enthusiasm vanished. My friend, those experiences were real; they were new wine in your life—but because you have an old wineskin, you allowed the new wine to seep out.

An old wineskin is a hardened heart, a narrow perspective, an old paradigm, a negative attitude, a “we’ve always done it this way” approach or an unhealthy pattern in your life that prevents you from growing.

Life is full of new wine but you must live differently. You must attack your heart through meditation and serious self-examination to soften it so you can taste the sweet new things in store for you. Allow your heart to swell so it can receive the adventure ahead, bringing you closer to your destiny.

When you are through changing, you are through.
Bruce Barton

Thank you Matthew for noting this parable for eternity.

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