good-bye Halloween 2019....Reformation Day....October 31.....Thursday...
Well its 9pm and I have almost made it through another Halloween. It's just not a holiday I enjoy. It kind of ruins October for me. The only tv show I really like to watch is the cooking ones on food network and in October its all halloween spooks and gross stuff. yuck. I feel like I spend much of my time in prayer fighting spiritual battles, interceding, discerning, asking God to help me fight all the darkness in the world.....and on this day every year the world goes kind of nuts and thinks its fun. I just don't. I'm not gonna be a hater or condemn folks who celebrate it....you do you and I'll do me....but for me.....I'm super glad its about done for the year.
I've been a mom for 20 years now and have wrestled with this kind of thing over and over.....the Santa part of Christmas, the Easter Bunny part of Easter.....The spooky part of Halloween vs. Reformation Day recognition......there seems to be a worldly pop culture spin and a faith-based, biblical version of all the major holidays.........and I want to parent well. I want to parent my kids into adulthood with a sense of what is really going on, as well as how the world sees things.....and gosh its hard.
What has been working so far is this. We are in the world but we are not OF the world. We can live in the pop culture and recognize and respect it as long as it does not determine our identity. We are in the world and we can watch Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin or Frosty the Snowman....and we can hide easter eggs and eat chocolate bunnies.....as long as we don't ignore the biblical truths we have decided to stand on in this life. We can be in the world as long as we are not of the world.
I watched the documentary called Luther today. It is a good narrative of the life and work of Martin Luther who broke popular culture by challenging the practice of the religion of the day and reformed the way people think and read and live with scripture. If you have a chance, please do watch it. Its worth the time. At the end there was a challenge. Every generation needs its reformation. Every generation needs to look at how culture is dictating the way we live, and as Christians, we need to look at how it aligns with the word of God.....and then reform our thoughts and actions so that we can always line up with scripture. It is our roadmap and it is the living, breathing word of God Almighty.
So we did a bit of trick-or-treating at Roger's work...and Precious went to dance in costume, and Josiah trick or treated up and down our neighborhood and handed out a few candy bars from the front doors. I lit the jack-o-lanterns one last time and I plan to let them burn all the way out tonight because the pumpkins are now have frozen and half moldy and need to go in the trash.....so they can light up the front stoop once more. I do love the jack-o-lanterns......then I took the kids to the local Halleluiah party which is carnival games and trinkets and treats in a safe, indoor rec center in town. it is the 20th anniversary of this event. How cool is that? As the kids ran around with friends and played games I people-watched (cuz that's what I do) and I marveled at how much more ethnically diverse our little community has become.....and I thank God for that.
The littles are finally tucked into bed....the sugar rush has crashed and will hopefully give them sweet and happy dreams of a fun day filled with positive and healthy memories. Jeremiah just got picked up by a couple of out of town girls to go to McDonalds for ice cream. I know. Weird. Halloween is weird. Isaac has said good-night because the football team has a big tournament game tomorrow night and he is smart and wants to be rested and ready.
Maybe it's the process of getting older that is giving me more melancholy and wisdom....but I am definitely ending this Halloween less edgy that other years. Time and the fermenting process of doing life with Jesus has a way of making everything look richer and fuller and softer and better. and waking up tomorrow to a crisp fall day and starting November sounds really, really wonderful to me.
I've been a mom for 20 years now and have wrestled with this kind of thing over and over.....the Santa part of Christmas, the Easter Bunny part of Easter.....The spooky part of Halloween vs. Reformation Day recognition......there seems to be a worldly pop culture spin and a faith-based, biblical version of all the major holidays.........and I want to parent well. I want to parent my kids into adulthood with a sense of what is really going on, as well as how the world sees things.....and gosh its hard.
What has been working so far is this. We are in the world but we are not OF the world. We can live in the pop culture and recognize and respect it as long as it does not determine our identity. We are in the world and we can watch Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin or Frosty the Snowman....and we can hide easter eggs and eat chocolate bunnies.....as long as we don't ignore the biblical truths we have decided to stand on in this life. We can be in the world as long as we are not of the world.
I watched the documentary called Luther today. It is a good narrative of the life and work of Martin Luther who broke popular culture by challenging the practice of the religion of the day and reformed the way people think and read and live with scripture. If you have a chance, please do watch it. Its worth the time. At the end there was a challenge. Every generation needs its reformation. Every generation needs to look at how culture is dictating the way we live, and as Christians, we need to look at how it aligns with the word of God.....and then reform our thoughts and actions so that we can always line up with scripture. It is our roadmap and it is the living, breathing word of God Almighty.
So we did a bit of trick-or-treating at Roger's work...and Precious went to dance in costume, and Josiah trick or treated up and down our neighborhood and handed out a few candy bars from the front doors. I lit the jack-o-lanterns one last time and I plan to let them burn all the way out tonight because the pumpkins are now have frozen and half moldy and need to go in the trash.....so they can light up the front stoop once more. I do love the jack-o-lanterns......then I took the kids to the local Halleluiah party which is carnival games and trinkets and treats in a safe, indoor rec center in town. it is the 20th anniversary of this event. How cool is that? As the kids ran around with friends and played games I people-watched (cuz that's what I do) and I marveled at how much more ethnically diverse our little community has become.....and I thank God for that.
The littles are finally tucked into bed....the sugar rush has crashed and will hopefully give them sweet and happy dreams of a fun day filled with positive and healthy memories. Jeremiah just got picked up by a couple of out of town girls to go to McDonalds for ice cream. I know. Weird. Halloween is weird. Isaac has said good-night because the football team has a big tournament game tomorrow night and he is smart and wants to be rested and ready.
Maybe it's the process of getting older that is giving me more melancholy and wisdom....but I am definitely ending this Halloween less edgy that other years. Time and the fermenting process of doing life with Jesus has a way of making everything look richer and fuller and softer and better. and waking up tomorrow to a crisp fall day and starting November sounds really, really wonderful to me.
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