Halloween is just around the corner. Honestly, I think Halloween takes so much away from my favorite time of the year. Football. Apple Cider. Pumpkins. Boots. Leaves. Cooler Temps. Whatever you love about fall probably gets overshadowed by this late October holiday. It seems like all they do in school for three weeks is related to Halloween--spiders, witches, monsters, etc. And, you know what? We don't really celebrate spiders, witches, and monsters in our home. We talk about the true darkness of Halloween. But, our kids, just want to have fun. So, we have had to make a choice.
Some think our choices are to retreat or surrender. We could hide out for a couple of weeks. Or we could just give in and let it be what it is.
We have chosen neither. We have chosen instead to step into an opportunity. We have chosen to be light on a day that represents darkness. This is not the easiest choice, but it lines up best with what our family values.
So, here is what Halloween looks like for us:
First, we have lots of conversations about Halloween. I constantly have to talk to my kids about the things they are doing at school--they aren't bad things, but sometimes they represent things that we don't want to be about. We talk about how witches are real, not some fun, fake character. We talk about so many things I hate having to talk about with my elementary and preschool kiddos about.
We enjoy fall. We have lots of fall fun. And, we show our kids that fall fun doesn't have to be scary or dark. We use the scary things around us to talk about God and how light shines in darkness.
We try to avoid the things that celebrate Halloween as dark. For instance, on the street behind us, there is a house decorated in a way that highlights the evil and darkness of the day. We don't walk that way. We stay away. We don't want our kids to get used to it or think it is normal. Our kids are young and impressionable, and we must be wise as we protect their eyes and ears.
We join in on the fun. We will trick-or-treat downtown with the rest of our community. We will get too much candy. We will run into friends and neighbors. We will get to rub shoulders with the people we do life with on a regular basis.
We invite our neighborhood in. On Saturday during the end of our trick-or-treating hours, we will have food, games, and fun in our front yard. We want to meet our neighbors. We want to have fun with our neighbors. We want to be intentional about opportunities to connect with them, and since everyone will be walking the neighborhood that day, why not be a safe place for fun!
We give it away. This year, we are giving some of our candy away. We are sending it to friends who are missionaries in Africa. You can give it to kids in hospitals or stuck other places who cannot trick-or-treat and enjoy the day with their families.
So, we don't do anything extreme, but we are trying to be intentional with the opportunities God gives us. We want to love the people around us. We want to have opportunities to start relationships. When we keep showing up as light in a dark world, we earn the right to speak truth into the darkness.
Jesus gave His life so that light would forever win over darkness. And, I am so glad He invites us to join Him in that mission. He came to redeem humanity. And, we are trying to do something to redeem Halloween.
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