Given that today, October 31, is the
day people around the world celebrate Halloween, I thought it might be good to
resurrect an essay (no pun intended) that I posted three years ago. It’s still
timely and informative, and, for many of you, it may help you rethink this
presumably harmless holiday.
So often we leave ourselves open to
anything, and if it sounds good and portends to be lots of fun, we’re the first
ones in line to get on board to participate, even if we haven’t really done our
living intentionally research before committing. I think Halloween is one of
those events. And I think many people, even Christians, are clueless about its
origins and meanings.
Just recently I was talking to my
orthodontia assistant about Halloween. She felt uncomfortable celebrating it
and wasn’t too keen on having her toddler son involved with it, either. And she
was stressed because her well-meaning mother-in-law is all gung ho about dressing
her grandson up in some cute costume and parading him around the neighborhood
to beg for candy. (Actually, I think grandma is probably more interested in
taking a library of pictures of him and bragging to her friends about how
adorable he is.) But I gave the young mom some insight into the holiday, and
what some professional law enforcement officials think about it, and she said,
“See, I didn’t know that. I don’t want to get involved in that kind of thing.
I’m going to have to have a difficult chat with my mother-in-law.”
So before you run out and drop a wad
of hard earned money on some cheap costume that will either fall apart in a
month, or your child will soon outgrow, (or you’re going to be humiliated
wearing to some adult Halloween party), read this 2013 post and then think long
and hard, and pray, about whether or not you should get involved in the
celebrations. You might be opening yourself up to more than you expected, or
wanted.
On a side note, I do have a humorous
Halloween story, about something that happened to my husband and me when we
still thought traipsing around in costumes and attending adult drinking parties
were fashionable and fun.
One of my husband’s co-workers had
invited us to a Halloween costume party at his house. Being a thespian, I
wanted to do it up right, so I searched the local costume stores for just the
right characters to portray. After some intense searching, I settled on
Cleopatra for me, and her lover, Antony, for my husband. I wore some skimpy,
flowing skirt and gold-colored bra-like top (I could get away with wearing
something like that back then.) A brass-colored asp circled my long, curly
black wig. My husband looked like an emperor in full Roman military regalia,
complete with shiny helmet, shin and breastplates and flowing scarlet cape.
Handsome and imperial don’t even begin to describe him.
During the evening, I met several of
his co-workers I’d never met before and had a lengthy discussion with one of
the newer employees. Several weeks later, we all gathered together for another
social event. But this time, a black wig wasn’t covering my shoulder-length,
light blonde hair.
A couple of days later, my husband
arrived home laughing hysterically about the office joke that had been passed
around that day. Evidently, the new employee had been quite concerned about who
my husband had brought to the second event and made the rounds at the office to
ask who that “other woman” was at the social. “What do you mean?” someone asked
him. “That was his wife.”
“Oh, no, that’s not his wife. I met his wife at the Halloween party, and
she’s not a blonde. His wife has long black hair!”
He was pretty sheepish after the
water cooler crowd laughed uproariously at his faux pas and then quickly spread
the story around the office. To his credit, he apologized to my husband for his
blunder. Thirty years later, we still laugh about that. I must have been pretty
convincing in my getup. I should have been. The costume rental fee was
exorbitant!
We’ll be back to obtaining peace
next week!
_______________________________________
So, until next Monday, may your week be
full of blessings that you receive and give, your heart be full of joy and
thankfulness, and your days be filled with laughter. Build a little heaven in
your life right now, and watch your heavenly garden grow!
Blessings,
Andrea
When the eyes of
the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right
here on earth. ~ A. W. Tozer
Image by Google
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