One of the comments on the channel I respond to caught me off guard. 

"This video was great! I see that it was from seven years ago. Are your ideas still the same, or have they changed since then?"

I hesitated to say yes. I resisted saying no. 

There are fundamental beliefs that have not gone out of fashion for me, such as the Ten Commandments. But if I have not moved the needle about how that plays out, I am stuck. 

One Sunday in church the subject was wineskins. The minister had a real one, though from the way he held it I doubt that it contained any liquid. 

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins." Mark 2

Benjamin's hand shot up.

"It is shaped like a banana!" Which was true. 

Wine often symbolizes true ideas in scripture. If we hope to capture it for use later, we need to have containers that are flexible. The minister gave examples of ways we interact with others that can become outdated. His children once loved balloons and a decorated cake for their birthdays, but as teenagers they enjoy other ways to celebrate. Ben's hand bolted upwards again. 

"It is like a canteen." 

I smiled. He was never a Boy Scout. I have never owned a canteen. Yet he was absolutely correct. It is astonishing to me to witness the way people such as my son are embraced in society. Accessibility is becoming standard, workplaces are more amenable to employees who learn differently. 

There are ways my thinking has ripened over time. It has been a metaphorical stretch to expand my capacity for compassion. Yet I have not split open and spilled. God has been gentle in inviting me to care for a wider circle of His children than I seemed capable of seven years ago. 

Which is a sweet as a bunch of ripe bananas. The kind with a few brown spots.