A few years ago our family went to see the Fiddler On the Roof, and ever since the soundtrack has been one of our favorites. The fiddler, Tevye sings the opening song, “Tradition”, which describes his attempts to preserve his family's traditions in the face of a changing world. It’s a classic struggle, is tradition just a way to hold onto the past or something more?
Having grown up in a traditional setting, I spent a good number of years resisting tradition. Why do something just for the sake of it? Authenticity trumped tradition every time in my mind. And while it’s true that simply going through motions without heart can be meaningless, good traditions have the capacity to nurture and inform the heart.
[tradition: the handing down of information, beliefs, or customs from one generation to another]
If you have kids, you’ve probably realized how much they love (even crave!) tradition. A familiar protest around here has been, “but we have to do that, it’s our tradition!” Maybe it’s the uncertainty in our new COVID reality that’s amplified the desire for old traditions, but as our kids get older, the more they insist on the same things: using the same (broken) Christmas decorations, reading the same book we always read at night, making cookies like “we always do”, and eating favorite dishes. I’ve learned to be careful — if we do something twice, it’s likely to be added to the tradition list.
I think we all have traditions, whether or not we’ve stopped to recognize or formalize them. They bring fun and familiarity, provide touchpoints with the past and expectations for the future, and build a sense of identity. Even Scripture recognizes the power of traditions and their capacity to perpetuate beliefs (both positively and negatively) and shape us.
Paul commended the Corinthians for traditions they had because they nurtured them in the faith: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” 1 Cor. 11:1-2
But Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for the confidence they had in empty traditions (in this instance handwashing) rather than the truth: “making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” Mark 7:13
If traditions point to truths about God and the world, they strengthen us. If traditions nullify or cancel out God’s truth, they weaken us. This creates a weightiness to the “stuff we do” in our homes. There’s something to be won and conversely, something that can be lost, as we form traditions.
I pray the simple practices in my home and yours will cultivate strong joyful families and lively faith in our kids.
Much Love,
Kara
Things I’m Enjoying
Ethel & Ernest: We really enjoyed this gorgeous animation as a family. It’s slow-moving but portrays the ordinary yet beautiful life of a couple from dating to the end of life. It captures the stresses of WW2, the love of a parent, and a faithful marriage. There are two parts you may want to preview before watching as a family (child birth and sketchy neighbor situation). There were not too many dry eyes at the end in our living room.
One Line A Day: I heard about this journal from Emily Freeman and decided to start it this year. I’m not a journaler but with so much change happening in our family, this seemed like a great way to capture it. It captures the date for five years, only a few lines are written but it is forming a record I think I’ll love to look back on.
Cycling Class: I’ve been taking advantage of the Y this past year and dared to venture into RPM cycling classes. The first class I tried I wanted to quit about 15 minutes in, but I looked over and saw all the gray-haired people around me, and they were doing just fine. My pride wouldn’t let me quit, ha! Now I’m really enjoying it. Next up: convincing Darryl to play pickleball with me. :)
Life and Death in Shanghai: I read this over the Christmas break and couldn’t put it down. It is written by a Chinese woman who lived through the Cultural Revolution. Key takeaways for me were the fortitude she fought for to withstand the suffering and the ability of a false narrative to delude and dehumanize an entire society. Highly recommend.
Things I’m Being Stretched By
Who knew that helping kids prepare for college or life after high school was so difficult? There’s a lot of pressure on kids to know what they are going into, where they want to go, etc. In addition to figuring out FAFSA and scholarships, programs are competitive and the options are endless and expensive. We’ve been praying, talking about the concepts in the book “Just Do Something”, and trying to be helpful to Sophie as she makes all these decision.
As you can see from the picture below, Calvin’s spine continues to collapse and affect even his ability to sit in his chair. I have to repeat to myself often that this is a light and momentary affliction, working for him an eternal weight of glory. Showering him is more difficult and just trying to get him comfortable is a real challenge. In spite of this difficult reality, we are having many good days with him.
I loved reading this post. I am not necessarily a blogger myself, but I tend to leave notes on my iPad in”Notes”. I was just going through many untitled notes to delete what isn’t important and finding things I’ve written over the years and long since forgotten, but now they are so meaningful, I’ve gone through them and titled them. If not for anyone else to read, it’s a good reminder for myself of how precious God’s presence has been to me, especially through dark and challenging episodes in our “journey”. Since my cancer diagnosis I have journaled very brief but almost daily and now I am so glad I have a record of the highlights because one thing I find is that my memory is getting very bad, so being able to go back to this is very helpful.
You’re always an inspiration to me, and often in our prayers! Have a blessed New Year!