Good Monday morning...

… and the quote of the week came from our four-year-old granddaughter at the dinner table last Thursday night.  She said, “Papa, you love sugar.”  Perhaps more of an understatement, but where did she get this nugget of truth?  Could she have heard me say, “I’m addicted to sugar”?  Probably, because I have said that, and it is true.

So, with Halloween coming I want to dig into the truth-telling of four-year-olds!  Our granddaughter loves Halloween… for all the reasons she should… trick-or-treating with her safe grown-ups, dressing up, and her shared love of sugar.  I pray that the innocence of her joy and thrill of the American twist on the Eve of All-Saints Day will stay with her for years to come.  It will be up to us, the safe grown-ups in her life, to make sure she has every opportunity to enjoy it safely.

Thinking back over the years of raising our kids, and the different “Christian views” that have surrounded the holiday for them, ranging from putting a Christian twist on it back to more of a harvest celebration to being fully engaged with the culture of our neighbors and kids being kids, I wish I had been more confident in the “engage with the neighbors” mindset.  My evolution has brought me back to greater value being the people with whom we share life, our friends and neighbors.  Getting worked up about the evils of the holiday, often promoted by a then popular Christian leader or voice, only brought confusion to our home.  I must thank Lisa for keeping the balance of making sure the kids got to participate in the fun stuff!

Conviction, for me, has grown toward the overall mission of loving the people in our lives in the name of Jesus.  Acting in the best interests of friends, family and neighbors outweighs the fears of being influenced by the secular or spooky stuff.  If I could live my life as a young father all over again, I would err towards being more neighborly and less “holy” because I would have recognized the spiritual strategy of loving engagement with “unholy” people as the greater good than shying away from their fun.

I just read a statistic that made me laugh, that 79% of all parents have stolen Halloween candy from their kids.”  The only thing I can say about that, is that in my zest for holiness in the kids upbringing, I never stole their Halloween candy… I only took what they gave me!  This year, it will be fun to see the joy of our four-year-old granddaughter engaged in trick-or-treating and see what she does with her knowledge of Papa’s sugar addiction.  I am still committed to not stealing candy, but I will gladly partake in the harvest, if she offers!

For His glory,

Pastor Mike