A Toast to Vintage

A Toast to Vintage

“‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. … This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’” (John 15:5, 8).

They arrived this week. Packaged with care and wrapped in love. My vintage treasures.

from Liz at Kentucky Bound

A tea cup, a handkerchief, some lace, and embroidered linen. A decorative pin, a sewing basket, some needles, and some thread. A CD, a book, some candles and some tea. Old and new treasures given to me because the luck of the draw landed in my favor.

I’ve never received such a gift. Partly because of the giver—someone I have never met face to face but someone who is growing dearer to me with each blogging encounter—and partly, because of the gift’s contents. Somebody’s “old” became this girl’s “new”, and I am moved by the gesture. Not because it is the right and polite way to react but because there is something wonderfully significant attached to the owning of another’s treasure from, perhaps, another era in history.

The gifts that arrived on my doorstep used to belong to someone…used to matter to someone. Now they belong to me, and I am free to do with them as I please. And right now what pleases me most is the contemplation of their worth…of their vintage significance. Not with a dollars and cents kind of worth, but with a value that extends beyond an earthly understanding.

Vintage. A word that means…

“(1) the wine from a certain crop of grapes;(2) a year’s crop of grapes; (3) the season of gathering grapes and making wine; (4) outstanding quality, choice; (5) type of thing fashionable or popular during an earlier season.”[i]

And while definition #5 seems to define the treasure in question, I am struck by the originating definition of word which is represented in the other four definitions—the choice wine from a certain crop of grapes grown in season within a particular year, and usually sown within the soil of a selected vineyard.[ii]

With vintage comes specificity. Selective choice. Particular taste.

With vintage comes a seasoned approach to the cultivation of grapes, therefore leading to the production of a wine that is meant to be savored in seasons yet to come.

And while my vintage treasure doesn’t boast a bottle of fine wine, I see the connection between the two. My gifts are the treasures from a season past. Treasures that have grown more precious and, perhaps, more valuable as time has turned its clock. Ask the original owners of said treasures and they would most likely respond with something along the lines of…

I remember when my husband gave me that pin on our wedding anniversary. That sewing basket sat beside my bed. The lace once adorned my dresser. That embroidery? I needled that when I was ten. And that tea cup? Let me tell you about some of the conversations and prayers I had over that cup of seasoned brew.

Indeed, my vintage treasures hold some value. Not from a financial perspective, but from a seasoned perspective. They were first cultivated within the soil of someone’s past, and now they have made their way to the table of my current. I will savor their flavor for a season, and then, perhaps, pass them along for a savoring yet to come.

This is the simple joy of a vintage treasure. It retains its flavor beyond the era in which it was birthed.

Two thousands years ago, a Vine grew upon the soil of Calvary’s vineyard, the branches of which continue to bear fruit. You and I…we are those branches alongside countless others who have grafted their hearts within the Vine’s embrace. We are cultivated for vintage. For the pressing through and for the pouring forth of a choice Wine whose flavor is meant to be savored for all eternity.

Not all will partake. There are those who will sniff around its edges and deem His bouquet too potent…too aromatically displeasing to the smell. Their smells are otherwise inclined…bent toward a sweeter swallow. They forsake a drink of the Vintage for the drunken folly of fools, chasing after the immediate rather than pausing to savor the timeless. They refuse to consider his value because his value is cloaked in old…in yesterday…in a history meant for containment—for an era long gone and since forgotten. Or so they reason.

But this is the simple joy of a vintage treasure…God’s treasure. He has retained his flavor beyond the era in which he was birthed.

His is a continuing savor, grown in season—past, present, and future. His Vine never boasts empty and his cup never runs dry. If we, as his branches, refuse his cultivation, there comes along another to pour forth his cup. Jesus will never be fruitless because his wine poured eternal on the day that he hung within God’s selected vineyard and bled on our behalf. He was meant for the pressing through and for the pouring forth, and this day I am drunk with gratitude for the gift of God’s costly vintage.

Jesus Christ is the finest wine I have ever tasted, and so I pray…

Fill me Father, with the treasure of your Son. Graft me within the Vineyard’s embrace and grow me with specificity. And when harvest season arrives, pour me forth as a drink offering upon the soil of my current. Fill my cup to overflow so that a taste of your eternal spills forth into the hearts of men and women who long for a drink of something lasting…something treasured…something vintage. You have transcended the embrace of history to find your place at my table this day. You have become the savor of this girl’s heart. Humbly and with the deepest of gratitude, I receive my portioned cup. Amen.

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[i] Thorndike & Barnhard, “vintage,” Scott, Foresman Intermediate Dictionary (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1979), 1014.
[ii] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vintage

17 Responses to A Toast to Vintage

  1. Ah yes … vintage. Now there’s a Merriam Webster word worth taking in (literally and figuratively)! I think, too, of that lovely anthem, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”.

    I’ll need to sip on this for awhile – a bouquet much like the aroma of life-to-lfe.

    Great post.

    Kathleen

  2. What a treasure! Congratulations!

    Vintage. Even the sound of this very fitting word is poetic. Beautiful post!

    Happy weekend to you, as well! And thank you for that hilarious link. Shared it with my husband and son. We all loved it! =D

  3. This post is so timely as I received some vintage treasures from my parents today. Gifts that hold precious memories from my childhood. Part of my heritage. Priceless to me, yet worthless to others. The value not being found in the object itself, but because of it’s great worth to me.

    Reminds me that we should value everyone because of their great worth to God. We all are precious in His sight.

    May generations to come receive the vintage treasure held in my heart.
    Blessings,
    Joy

  4. Very thoughtful post; I love the memories attached to so many of the “treasures” in my home.

    God Bless,
    Amy:)

  5. I LOVE vintage. My house is decorated in vintage – especially some lovely item from days gone by when we too lived in the grand state of Kentucky. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane and the deep spiritual truths.

  6. I, too, love vintage things! These are lovely….the gifts you received. “A picture is worth a thousand words” comes to life here.

    God bless,
    Marilyn

  7. Returning your visit…what a beautiful site! I look forward to many return visits!

  8. MMMmmm… I love vintage things. I wish I could decorate with them… but I am really a minimalist… well, except for my attic that is…

  9. Thank you so much for visiting my blog! I have read through the past few of your posts and have to say you are a very talented writer. It is one thing to understand the Word for yourself, but another to be able to put it into words so others can understand it as well as you. Thank you for sharing and I hope you will visit my blog again soo!

  10. Thanks for the comment on my blog yesterday. I loved this post. I am completely “romantic” about the times past. Probably to a fault from books and movies because I tend to think things were “better” then than now. I know in reality that isn’t true, but the sense of value, family, and loyality that comes from “vintage” eras of the past completely rapture my soul. I love to read a novel set in the Pioneer or Victorian era and fantacize (sp??) about the way things were back then. Of course, the setting is always with such “vintage treasures” as you spoke of here. I love the analogy to God’s Word and being grafted to the vine…and yet we are still “vintage” and can produce the choicest fruit of the vine if we stay connected to him. Great Post. Look forward to visiting again.

  11. What a great concept….I’ve never thought abou this! Your words spoke right to my heart. Thanks for the encouragement!

  12. Your newfound treasures are delightful! Enjoy!

    Yes, it is ‘doggy week’ and it was completely spontaneous on my part. One cute photo just led to the next…

    Hugs,
    Grace

  13. What a beautiful site. Thank you for reminding me the timeless purpose of my bible, which also contains papers, notes, becoming worn. thank you also for the reminder of what I prayed for today. Yes God is very much a MUCH God. thanks for stopping by my site and for your praise report. God is a god of relationships and longs to restore them when we need HIM TOO. May GOD BLESS AND CONTINUE TO ANOINT YOU. What a mighty walk with God you have.

  14. What a beautiful vintage gift… I love getting old that is my new and I love giving my old to make someones new…

    Connie
    GBU

  15. I’m returning the visit too! Your post was absolutely beautiful. And what a beautiful gift you received. Thank you for sharing and for coming by…

  16. What a beautiful post to come home to! Words cannot express how grateful I am that the Lord has seen fit to have brought us together through this wonderful technological land of blog. Grateful that through “the luck of the draw” (although I prefer to think of it as divine intervention) you were the recipient of my treasure box and have been able to use those treasures to so beautifully illustrate God’s endless love for us.

    Blessings!
    Liz

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