To Mold or To Be Molded?

Any time we enter a new environment, there are 2 basic ways we can approach the acclimation process: we can either change our surroundings to fit our needs and wants, or we can take steps to adapt our needs and wants to fit our surroundings.

In home ownership, we see this play out in the way that different people approach the move-in process. There are people who love to knock down walls, expand dining rooms, and add-on master suites; and then there are the type of people who see a new house as a fun and challenging puzzle to fit their life (and furniture) into.

In the realm of the outdoors, there are people who leave, shall we say, a larger footprint than others because of their propensity for adapting their environment to themselves. They clear an oversized campsite, gather more firewood than they need, and maybe even drag some logs out of the woods for benches. Here again, we have an opposite end to the spectrum: those people who try to change as little as possible in order to experience nature more like it was before they arrived.

How about relationships? I won't take the time now to dive into all the ways this concept shows up in that arena, but I'm sure you can connect some dots and see what some of the implications are.

To be clear, I think both types of people (and people from all points between) are necessary in a healthy society, but I also think that both types need to learn to recognize the weaknesses of their side and the strengths of the other. Progress is great, but conservation is also very important. Additionally, some things need to be stood up against, while other things are worth getting in line with.

How does this concept sit with the way we relate to God and the Bible? Or how about the ancient traditions of our Faith? I think in this sphere we find a lot less leeway for the one side of this conversation.

What do I mean? Well, when we read the Bible do we let it inform the way we live and act, or do we try to find new ways of interpreting it in order to make it sound more like the way we're already living and acting? When we encounter Christian traditions that we don't understand, do we take the time to learn about their origins so that we can embrace the meaning behind them, or do we just throw them out because they don't fit with the way we live these days?

Let's not forget: we're called to follow Jesus, not the other way around.