Funny but sad....

Everyday, unless something changes my early morning routine, I walk at the mall from 6:45 to 8 a.m.  On Friday, the mall security handed out flyers to all of the walkers telling us that Monday through Wednesday of this week, we would have to park in a different parking lot and use another mall entrance due to construction.  I was pleased with myself this morning for remembering and parking in the alternative lot.  As and elderly gentleman and I stood at the alternate door waiting for security to come open it, we had an interesting exchange.

He had come to the mall to walk and as we walked in through the doors, he said to me, "the only problem with this change of entrance locations, is that now I have to walk clear over there (pointing to the food court area) to put my coat on a chair."   And I said to him, "Well, you did come here to walk didn't you?  It doesn't really matter if you walk this way (pointing in the direction that we always walk) or if you walk that way (pointing in the direction of the food court).  As long as you are walking in any direction, you are walking!"   And he responded, "But 20 years of walking in this direction (pointing in the direction we always walk) makes it hard to walk in that direction (pointing toward the food court)."   And he kept on walking in the direction that he always walks, while wearing his coat.

And I recalled an incident that Jesus has with the Pharisees in Mark 7 ..."One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. ³ (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. ⁴ Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their handsin water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)
⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”

⁶ Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’

⁸ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

⁹ Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. ¹⁰ For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’^{[f] 11} But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’¹² In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. ¹³ And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

¹⁴ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹⁵ It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

Sometimes traditions, habits, and routines keep us from new experiences where we can meet God!