365 days; The amount of time I have made what I like to call the transition from old wine to new wine.
Let me elaborate. I have recently began attending Kent State's Fellowship of Christian Athletes (if you have one on your campus I HIGHLY recommend giving it a try). My second week of attending our sermon preached from Luke 5:36-38:
"No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”
I will willingly admit that parables from the Bible tend to go right over my head until someone takes the time to explain in a deeper context. What this story says is as simple as this. The "old wine" is the old you. The version of you in the past that has seen a fair share of trials and tribulations, but has overcome it all. The new wine is the new you; the one that has learned through the trials of the old you. Old wine vs. new wine. The old you vs. the new you.
365 days ago I ran my first half marathon after training my butt off. I crossed the finish line then seemed to hit a wall - anorexia, mental health issues, witnessing a family death. It all seemed to be too much for me to handle.
He continued to preach about the fact of when we transform into new wine we can't continue to be stored in an old wine bag. The old wine bags taint the taste of the new wine and can't handle the capacity of the new wine. Just as we change over time we can't continue to use our old ways for if we do we will consistently be in a cycle of not being able to grow and learn. It is the opportunity to learn what makes us happy and who supports those dreams. It's accepting that some things are meant to be left in the past - or in this case left in the old wineskin bags.
365 days ago I started to run as a means to escape my mind and see what my body could accomplish. Yesterday I ran the Akron Half Marathon once more, but this time, I did it to push a friend that I knew could accomplish her goal and to support the kids of the Akron Children's Hospital. I ran with a smile on my face through the entire course with pride as she overcame the same obstacles I had a year ago. I have the dream of running the Boston Marathon, but rather than killing my body to set a qualifying time, in that moment I decided to do it to run for charity.
The old wine in me was a beginning runner who hated change, but wanted to see what her body could do and filled the bad days with negativity. The new wine is a person I am proud of. One that accepts there will be bad moments, but has overcome them with positive people and a new outlook. One that has found God, a fantastic support system, and sees the beauty in every day. As they say, life is 10 percent of what happens to us, and 90 percent of how we react to it.
We may be creatures of habit, but we are also creatures of change. Find the new wine in you. Accept that the old wine can't handle the new wine. Understand what makes up the new wine in you. Old wine vs. new wine.
