Hope and Halloween

What do you love about the holidays?  Is it the people, the atmosphere, the energy, the food? What really draws you in?  Personally, I don’t think there is just one thing.  It’s a combination.  When people come together in hope, wonderful things happen.  The holidays offer a magnificent opportunity to see this. 

However, I am guilty of becoming kind of judgmental about holidays like Halloween.  You see, I am one of those crazy parents who spends way too much time worrying if my kid is eating too much candy.  (I am probably giving my child a complex by trying to ration everything… and I know I’m giving myself one!)  I also think I’m just kind of a scaredy cat, and I don’t like creepy nature of the all costumes and decorations!  J

The Super heroes in our house!

Whatever the reason, I was putting a lot of stress into how my 3 year old was going to celebrate Halloween.  In the end, I decided if people were coming together in hope, I didn’t want to stand in the way of that.  It’s fun to dress up, laugh, and eat too much candy!  However, my favorite part of the night was watching my 3 year old get super excited when trick or treaters came to our door.  He couldn’t wait to hand out candy! (He even wanted to give them the candy from his own bucket!)  We literally had to hold him back from walking all the way down the street to give away candy!  It was a beautiful moment to share… (Next year the candy complex will probably have set in and he will hoard it all, but this year was fun!) We found some really special time together as a family, and I was reminded of all the surprising ways that hope can show up.

Happy Halloween everybody!

I pray that all of you can find hope this season!  May you know God’s Blessings and receive God’s Grace!

Peace!

Brian