Trick or Treating for the Lord!

Every day is God's day! "For the Earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" 1 Corinthians 10:26

I promised I would share how our family "handles" Halloween, so that's what I'm going to do today. We believe daily activities, including participating in Halloween and Trick-or-Treating can be done for the Lord!

We encourage our children to use their imaginations to think up fun (but not scary) costumes for dressing up in. Sometimes they don't have a lot of choice in the matter, like when they're made to wear a hand-me-down costume, but that is usually fine with them! We take them around to the houses of anyone they want to visit and show their costumes to, and then we sometimes go on to a church or community-sponsored trick-or-treat.

We are open with our children. Strange things they see on Halloween give us a great opportunity to discuss what's real and what's not and the truth about what's in store for us after we die. They are never too young to know the reason Jesus died for them (so they have the opportunity live eternally with God in heaven).

Halloween is also a great way to encourage giving thanks to God. Sheer joy is on the faces of my children when they put their costumes on and they SO enjoy telling people about their costumes. Dressing up, sharing excitement with others and getting CANDY are wonderful examples of things to be thankful for! We encourage our kids to give thanks to the Lord in everything.

I recognize many people think there's a underlying evil behind Halloween. The Americanized Halloween seems to me to be a conglomeration of all of the fun traditions of lots of different cultures all mashed-up together under the banner of Halloween for marketing purposes only. I have a feeling the majority of Americans who go trick-or-treating this year don't REALLY even know what Halloween originally was. Most people (adults and children alike) don't need a reason dress up, have fun with their friends and get enough candy to last until next Halloween! ;)

I will certainly be telling our children the information behind the holiday. We will put emphasis on Halloween being the All Hallows' Eve for All Saints Day, celebrated November 1. Learning about the "saints" who died for the cause of Christ is a great way to teach our kids about the sacrifices some Christians have made because their unwavering commitment to Jesus.

We totally respect and encourage both those who go all out on Halloween and those who choose to focus on other things that day. Below are some encouraging verses I found in the Bible pertaining to the details we choose to deem important in life.

MAY GOD BLESS YOUR HALLOWEEN! :)

Romans 14:5-8, The Message

"Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of his conscience.

What's important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God's sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you're a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to--all the way from life to death and everything in between--not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again; so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from petty tyrannies of each other."

1 Corinthians 10:23, The Message

"Looking at it one way, you could say, 'Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.' But the point is not just to get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well."