Red Wine in New Wineskins

Breakfast: granola and a banana

Lunch: salad, apple, and a pancake

Dinner: homemade pizza, red wine

Origin of One Item: Long Arm red wine
From the Examiner: The Trader Joe's exclusive, Long Arm is produced by Familia Nueva in Paso Robles, California.  Paso Robles is blessed with a unique climate for California and a variety of soil conditions. 

Theological Reflection:

"...And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

- Mark 2:20-22

New wine is not as good as old wine.  But something about a new container is needed for this immature wine.  If we put in the young, not-as-good stuff in our seasoned container, Jesus tells us we run into trouble. The old wineskin bursts and then the wine never has a chance to mature into the really good stuff. And I agree with Jesus, a spilled glass of red is intolerable.

But new wineskins work. They don't have the memory of wine that isn't as aged, complex or subtle.  So what happens when we put new wine into a new wineskin? It holds.  And then it ages. Ripens. Sweetens. Deepens.

We continue on through Lent, nearing the end. It is a time to remember our connections with God, and we do this by forgetting. Forget you are an old wineskin, filled with deep memories of all your past shortcomings and successes. Instead be new, and fill yourself with the new thing, however seemingly insignificant, God has brought you this season.

What we do on a daily basis--like eating and drinking with an eye to the Earth--can seem small and insignificant. But focusing in on small things make us forget their smallness. So we hope by Lent's end the new wine will have aged into something sweeter and deeper without us fully realizing it. 

Drink up, folks!  (Please drink organically)


Erika