Thoughts on November 1

Well, we got through another Halloween. Definitely not my favorite day of the year. If it were just up to me, I think we'd ignore it altogether, but we did let the kids dress up last night and go trick-or-treating. They were cute - Oldest son was Darth Vader, Middle son was a king (King Peter, he says), and Baby was a duck until she petered out and I put her jammies on for bedtime. She got to sit on the porch with me and my mother-in-law to pass out candy. I kind of like that part - being sociable with the neighbors, that is. We live in such a cocooned society that I really don't know my neighbors, and that's sad. I'm also pretty sure that it hinders my Christian witness that I don't really have much contact with them. Anyway, I hate the celebration of death and evil that Halloween represents, and I sort of resent the pressure to participate that seems so relentless, so this is always a frustrating time of year for me, and I'm glad once it's over, because I absolutely love the fall. One house in our neighborhood really went all out with a make believe graveyard, spooky music and just really elaborate get-up in front of their house. It struck me as very sad that people would get so excited about celebrating the darkness. I know that Christ came into the world as the Light of the World, and I just don't have any desire to participate in all the eerie, creepy, grossness of Halloween. These customs came into being because pagan people were afraid of the darkness of winter and things they didn't understand. Christ came to free us from that. I guess what I'm saying is that I wish we could have fall with pumpkins, scarecrows, nice weather and sociable neighbors without the witches, ghosts, love of darkness part. Speaking of sociable neighbors, I've been thinking a bit today about how comforting a cup of tea is. Perhaps I could learn to be a better friend by opening my home and inviting someone to share a pot of tea? As a child of the King, I ought to be sharing His light in a dark world. Because He has come, we really don't have to be afraid of the dark.