a comical look that brought laughter and created a memory.
We have many un-captured memories of Kayla, our daughter, surprising us with some out-fit gathered from any closet but her own, making her look goofy and cute at the same time, and without fail made us stop what we were so busy doing, because we just had to laugh.
(Thank you for all those countless moments.)
But it never happened on Halloween because we never liked or supported that celebration.
We struggled with the thought of us,- God's children, his light in this world-, dressing ourselves and our child up in cute little costumes and line up in the celebration of Halloween.
It didn't match up for us.
When I get an invitation to a celebration, I always pay attention to;
#1 who it is from & #2 what it is for.
Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with this celebration, -coming in from the outside sometimes makes you look and think from a different angle -
and I don't see it as being really just about cute costumes and getting free candy,
- but rather a tradition based on rituals from the dark side, witch craft practices and prayers for the dead, hiding in costumes from dead people seeking revenge, and more of is mentioned on any search page on that topic.
So based on that, this has always stood out to me as having nothing what so ever to do with God and light - at the root of it.
We are called out by the one true God - the Holy one. He has called me out, desired me to be his child !!
What he did to make this possible is still unfolding in my heart.......
What he asks of me in return is to be holy, - to set myself aside for something special!
He wants me to be:
salt - light - his ambassador - not of this world -
Does that make me different??
How different am I willing to be?
Where do I draw the line between following God's desire for me to stand up (or down), say no thank you,- and tagging along with what 'every body else' is doing?
Halloween has had a Hallmark make-over for sure -
so what - doesn't change what it is at 'heart'.
I know, I know, I'm a party pooper - and maybe it's not bad to tag along and have fun, say hi to neighbors, run with friends, laugh at each other........ it doesn't make you worship evil, practice witch craft or believe in dead people having power to seek revenge on you and so on and so forth...
You are right, it doesn't!
and yet......... why do we even want to support this,- in any shape or form -
with it's origins and roots dug deep in darkness?
There are certain stores I don't shop - don't enter - simply based on what they sell and/or represent.
Eph. 5:8 ".. for at one at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord."
I've been thinking about the Israelites, in regards to this post, and the big party that was thrown at some point.
It happened when Moses went up to meet with God and was gone too long in the opinion of the people and the whole story of the golden calf unfolds. (Exodus 32)
I've wondered how many people there were at that time.
In Joshua 4:13 we are informed that 40.000 -ready for war - passed over the Jordan river in the Exodus from Egypt.
If there were more or less by the time Aaron announces the feast, I don't know.
But a picture forms in my mind of an incredible mass of people.
- how many, of all those people, could actually see what was going on at the center?
They might not have bowed down before the golden calf -
yet joined in, celebrating something they couldn't see,
participated, even if it were on the fringes....
-b
