I wake up early pretty much every day.

One of the first things I do while it is still dark out is breeze through overnight emails (often from friends and colleagues in Israel) and scan the Web and my Google Alert emails for interesting stories to share.

Earlier this week, I caught a story on (of all places) beliefnet by David Klinghoffer about why Manischewitz “Wine” is Blasphemy.

Wine is a spiritual food. It is literally alive. Like a person, it changes over time – in the barrel, in the bottle, in the glass, in your mouth.

The transformation of the grape + sunshine + yeast into wine is the world’s original alchemy.

Sunshine transforming dirt and vine back into (liquid) sunshine.

Everything the grape needs to “wine” is right there for it. Sugar (inside) + yeast (outside) = alcohol.

And we should all hope to be transformed at a personal level to the degree the grape gets transformed.

Can you imagine what would be possible for us if we would be transformed to such a degree?!

Klinghoffer reminds us that our “cup” and what’s in it is a metaphor for the gifts God gives us.

We want our cup to be full, to overflow in fact.

So to place into our literal wine cup crappy wine is somehow offensive to Him, to do so is to settle for less than what’s intended for us.

I toss out a lot of wine that tastes bad to me. It just doesn’t feel right drinking it. This is not about being a wine snob, really. It’s about the search for something that’s true and right, that makes your blood feel carbonated, that makes you sit up and say “wow, I was made for this moment, this wine made a string sing inside of me”.

Wine can be Holy Grail or Holy Hell.

I remember the feeling I have each time (Thank God) one of my kids has been born – “what’s THIS new person gonna be like?!”) And it’s similar to the expectant feeling I have uncorking a bottle of wine for the first time.

Who will this wine be?

What will it do to me?

What does it have to say to me?

Just like meeting a person for the first time.

And lately so much of the wine I have been drinking has been letting me down.

Maybe my expectations are too high.

What do you think?

Do you personalize your new wine relationships like I do?

Do you care at all about the wines you meet? Are you picky about them?

Or is wine just another beverage for you? Like Coke or OJ.

(For the record: Manischewitz is NOT form Israel!! It’s from NY!)