Don't be... FRIGHTENED!
So, today I woke up to a fine breezy morning.
And then remembered that it was Halloween.
Bring on the spooks.
I know that a lot of you guys are all into the scary ghosts and goblins and the like. And I also know that a lot of you are disgusted by the sight of your own papercut, and decide not to partake in the "festivities" (if they can even be called something that happy) of Halloween.
Either way, I'm not judging you. Believe me, I'm really not.
Halloween has been sort of a weird holiday for me personally. Growing up, my parents didn't really aknowledge all the trick or treating like most families. They didn't see many good reasons for letting their children dress up, roam the neighborhood late at night with houses decked out in bloody galore, and have them come home with enough candy to both give them a mouthful of cavities and a heart attack. It just seemed..kind of pointless. Not to mention the fact that at a very young age, children all over the country are being exposed to supernatural fascination that the holiday glorifies. So yeah, I never really trick or treated until about seventh grade, and even then I only went around to a few houses in my neighborhood dressed up in a bathrobe and slippers, telling people I was a spa client. No biggie.
Actually, I'm really not complaining about my lack of participation in Halloween. I totally respect the choice my parent's made in deciding not to have us immersed in that. And now that I'm a bit older, I understand.
Halloween is an extremely dark holiday to me. I took time to investigate the origins of this holiday, and found out some interesting things.
The early Celtics started this huge shindig as a sort of "end of summer" celebration, and a chance to get real with some ghosts. The fine line between this world and what was percieved as "the other world" became very opaque to them, allowing spirits of both good and bad to pass through. Yeah, kind of freaky. And they would dress up in scary costumes so that the "bad spirits" would fly away instead of bothering them. And all of this "trick or treat" madness?
Children in medival times would go around from door to door on Halloween and yell trick or treat, a playful threat that if the owner didn't give them a goody, then they would play a mean prank on them.. or something.
Okay, not that scary, right? So what- people dressed up to scare some spirits away. Big deal.
Actually, it is a big deal. Over the years, Halloween has evolved into a bloody horror central for people to brood over whether or not they believe in ghosts. People that do become obsessed with nasty movies about ghosts and possesion of their spirits and blah blah blah.
The problem is, they're not that far from the truth. They've almost got it right.
My belief is in demons and angels. They are absolutely real, and there is a supernatural battle taking place between the two that we are blind to. Demons do try to mess with people. They do terrorize some. And they posses very few, but some nonetheless. The only problem with not giving demons the credit for all of this foul play is that "ghosts" are seen as both good and bad. Bleh. Not my cup of tea.
I'm not trying to scare you away from celebrating Halloween, not in the least. In fact, I'm off to go get my pirate costume ready for a church event tonight. I'm just cautioning you- please do not get too carried away with the oo's and ah's of wicked stuff that Halloween tends to conjure up. It's not to be messed with.
Instead of focusing on crazed killers and creepy spirits, focus on thanking Jesus for bringing light in dark places, and turning a sad and dark life into a new, hopeful one in Him.
Boo.
