Okay, I know that everyone has their own conviction about participating in Halloween. And I respect whatever you choose to do. But really, do these faces look evil to you?
Adorable! I think that anything in this world can be used for good or evil. The internet, Facebook, TV, food, etc. etc. It’s what we do with it and where our hearts are that matter. Halloween to my kids is a fun day to dress up and get candy. Who doesn’t like that? They have no idea some people use it for evil yet. But many people are evil everyday, not just on Halloween.
Last year we still didn’t know that many people here in Portland. At Jenna’s school she really hit it off with a boy in class and I enjoyed his mom. They invited us to go trick-or-treating with them. It was the first time to be around the whole family, her extended family and some of their friends. We had such a great time with them. Since then we have had play dates and their family has been over for dinner. During one of my conversations with the mom she told me she didn’t think her husband would step foot inside a church. He may not do that, but he will step foot inside my house. I pray that over the course of getting to know them he would perhaps consider that God is not all that bad and give Him a chance. We went trick-or-treating with them again this year and once again had lots of fun wandering from door to door, watching the kids run excitedly, giggle with delight, and get to know each other a little better. I hope it’s forever a tradition.
So, today I’m thankful for Halloween and how it has unexpectedly brought families together. And well, I’m also a little thankful for the candy I get to eat out of Jenna’s bag. She’ll never know how many I’ve really eaten while she’s at school.
I call it the adult tax. Totally worth it. We’re plumping up to stay warm this winter!
I’m also pursuing more family friends, and I hope that your home is the church away from church for this family to see the winsomeness of God. Cool stuff.
Blake was pretty interested in what celebrating Halloween meant and how to honor God and not honor evil in doing it. I reassured him that he was pretty much okay no matter what, but that he couldn’t dress up as icky or scary things. Ninjas don’t count. I’m not even sure Darth Vader counts… 🙂 Nothing like waffling!
While I loved trick-or-treating as a kid I was initially against it for our kids. Although I was sad they were going to miss out on the costumes and the fun of getting candy I was really concerned about participating in an evil holiday. But, in the last couple of years my thoughts have been changed. Honestly in part due to the adorable costumes for kids! But, I also began realizing that just like we have a choice everyday to live for God or evil we have that same choice for holidays. Even overtly Christian holidays have been taken over by the world. Like Santa clause and the Easter bunny etc. So we can choose to wholly abstain from things and withdraw from the world or we can trust God for creative ways to honor Him and through those show Jesus to the people around us. I think each family should seek the Lord as to what they are to do. For some it might be to abstain from participating in Halloween at all. But this year I had a very cute and excited little 3 year old dragon who thought it was amazing that people wanted to give him candy (he even got four or five full size candy bars!). And he was so precious that after every house he would say “I called them gift givers!” I’m not sure where he picked that up, but he sure was cute!
Love this! And I’ve been eating my kids candy too:)