Traditions are good. They mark time and territory, giving identity to who and what’s important. I couldn’t state this a few hours ago when having a birthday lunch with my best friend Nichole. Nichole was telling me that her daughter wanted to know why we go to lunch to celebrate each of our birthdays, just the two of us, annually for as long as we’ve lived in the same city. “It’s tradition,” Nichole told Asha. “But why do you do it?” Nichole repeated Asha’s question to me and we both pondered why. Though we know our times are frill free and no adjustments needed; we can just be and we are “evergreen,” always the same with each other, always enjoying one another, we never thought about why the tradition. But today I know why: when God gives us someone to cherish it’s up to us to make a big fuss to those who matter. We don’t have to create a big deal, but God made us a big deal and I believe we need to honor that about our loved ones. Traditions help us do that. We can make a fuss with time-marked traditions and actions that mark a traditional attitude, like making a habit of consistently bringing joy to others in what we say and do. Traditions can be natural healing balms that no elixirs, food combinations or special herbs could ever bring. And that, Asha, is the reason we have our birthday lunch tradition and why I believe others should have traditions, too.

Tell me in the comments section what some of your healing balm traditions are.