Wholehearted living somewhere in the middle of all my years.
Aging parents, grown kids, and grandbebes everywhere!
Married to my love and lifelong best friend, Dave for 33 years now. We raised 5 kids and lived to tell about it.
My life's mission is to declare the great faithfulness of God to the next generations, especially those in mi familia!
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Saw this on Pinterest and I like the simplicity and wisdom of it. What if every time something worried us or was bothering us or getting us down or we lost something or found out some one didn’t like us or felt looked over, passed by or under-appreciated, what if we made a list 10 things that mattered more than that hopeless feeling?
Sometimes life is just hard, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes we even get what we deserve (it’s all a learning process, isn’t it?). You don’t have to have been born with a sunny disposition or perfect perspective – you can develop it!
Gratefulness is a skill, like anything. Here is a great way to practice that until we become expertly skilled in it!
The official family tree included everyone in the entire congregation—their small children, wives, sons, and daughters. The ardent dedication they showed in bringing themselves and their gifts to worship was total—no one was left out.
There is room at the table.
Who among us hasn’t experienced intense loneliness even in a crowd? Who hasn’t peeked in to some one else’s life via social media in these minute-by-minute times, or on a blog (even like mine, heaven forbid) we see pictures of celebrations, read family stories and see moments of glory (the only ones we generally share) – and felt left out, experienced longing to be a part, to get to have a seat at that table?
Me, too.
That’s why I love the picture of the Good Shepherd preparing a table before us (Psalm 23). In these days leading to the Thanksgiving celebration, as I ponder how to situate for 30 people I wholly adore, I cannot quit thinking about the joy the Father must have to invite us to be seated with Him. Ephesians says we’re accepted in the Beloved, His sacrifice bought our ticket to be included in the family – a chair at the table awaits.
I sense God’s great love in extending Himself to us, an invitation written in blood. And though we have so often ignored His pursuit, chasing after our own list of dreams and desires and for acceptance in places that will never satisfy our deepest heart’s desires, He prepares a table before us – He raises us up and seats us with Him (Eph. 2.6). In heavenly places – now that is a place of honor, a major party where you’re a treasured guest!
Something about the thought of it – the table, all set in loving anticipation, is just stirring in my heart. I have let the sacredness of a regular shared meal, in these crazy-busy days, the invitation for dinner to people I don’t know that well just pass by. But I hear God calling me back to a time I wholly practiced the beauty of the sharing of a regular supper. Oh good grief, He is killing me. I am too old to think of fixing big meals again, right? Yet, I want to reflect the heart of God, on earth as it is in heaven, as He prepares for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It’s a big deal.
I am picking up my library-borrowed copy of Shauna Niequest’s Bread and Wine today. SO looking forward to it. I have a feeling you’ll be hearing more about the family-table from me because this 1 minute and 52 seconds of video just fired. me. up!
1 John 1.4 Amplified
And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].
We have not been excluded from the festivities. We are accepted and beloved. Let’s share that amazing joy!
TV Themes really are woven into our musical-brains in a unique way. They signal certain years and seasons of our lives with distinct and focused clarity. If we loved the show, the theme probably added to it. When we heard it coming on, we ran from the kitchen with our popcorn and Pepsi in hand, it’s time, our hearts beating faster. **Smile.
In these days of Tivo and Apple TV, Netflix and Hulu-Plus, we watch whole seasons in a week or two, treating shows more like a mini-series than episodic TV, and if you watch more than one episode at a time, it does become monotonous to hear many of the themes over and over. But if the theme actually adds to the fun or the intrigue or the feel of the show, then I must insist on experiencing the song again and again.
Like with Mad Men: the musical theme is a must. It sets a sexy tone of intrigue whether I am marathoning or just fitting one episode into my evening. When the grandbebes are here, they beg to watch Gilligan’s Island over and over and the song is key to the slapstick fun!
I want my own theme song
Wouldn’t that just be fun? If, right before you arrived to meet your friend for coffee at Starbucks, or as you were coming down the stairs in the morning, a song started playing – a song that captured your essence and impish sweetness and set the tone for a special half-hour with you? I want that, dangit! I want to be wearing a yellow dress, just sort of gliding through life and have the world break forth in song in my wake. Hahahahaha! I laugh, but I may not actually kidding…*ahem
I sat down with a pen and wrote a quick list of some of my favorite TV theme songs from my growing up years. It is one of the fastest lists I have ever made. I had to keep crossing things off to keep the list from being my top FIFTY favs to just being 20…or so. ;)
A Spotify Playlist follows.
BEST TV THEMES from the 1960s and 1970s (in my humble opinion) ~ In no particular order…
Brady Bunch. Well, I mean, if you were going to have a blended family, how wonderful for every single person to be so cute, looking at each other sweetly from blue boxes. The Brady Bunch was a social-landscape-changing show, and like many shows of the time, told the whole background setting in the 30-40 second theme song. Hilarious! “Here’s the story of a lovely lady,” sing along with me now!
Partridge Family. OMYGOODNESS!!! Have you never read this blog before? This is THE quintessential show of my childhood and really – the theme of my life in its’ entirety, is it not??? Everybody – let’s SING!
“Hello, world, here’s the song that we’re singin’
C’mon get happy!
A whole lot of lovin’ is what we’ll be bringin’
We’ll make you happy!
We had a dream we’d go travelin’ together,
We’d spread a little love and then we’d keep movin’ on.
Somethin’ always happens whenever we’re together
We get a happy feelin’ when we’re singing a song.
Trav’lin’ along there’s a song that we’re singin’
C’mon get happy!
A Whole lot of lovin’ is what we’ll be bringin’
We’ll make you happy!
We’ll make you happy!
We’ll make you happy!”
Rockford Files. Instrumental. It was really my dad’s show. But the song charted on pop stations and is an earthy, sexy, adventurous, upbeat, ornery-cool song. Mike Post won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement in 1975. Can’t sing to it, but can love me some James Garner – and those cute answering machine messages he’d leave for his creditors!
Happy Days. This show just took the early 70s by storm. It was set in the late 50s-to-early 1960s with Poodle skirts and saddle shoes and the Fonz. I recall my mom totally not getting the appeal, as she had “already lived through that era” and was glad it was over. But the jukebox and the bobby-soxer were the rage and this show was just the thing! Thumbs-up, “Aaaaayyyyy!”
Andy Griffith Show. The whistle. It was one of the earliest shows of my memory. I watched it with my mom while she’d be ironing clothes and she always whistled along. She taught me how when I was 3 or 4. But I can’t do it now. What’s up with that?
The Beverly Hillbillies. A little Bluegrass, here. Just such a fun song to sing, and again, one of those that gave you the whole back story in a theme song. Genius! “Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed…”
Gomer Pyle, USMC. This one didn’t have words, either, but what a rousing, fun intro that made you want to watch Gomer smile that big, goofy smile and stand at attention in an attention-getting way and say, “Well, goll-ll-ll-ll-y!”
I Love Lucy. Who wouldn’t love Lucy? Partly why I always wanted to have red hair.
Perry Mason. Those eyes ~ and the broadest shoulders on TV ever! I LOVE a man in a well-cut suit and tie. Don Draper does it best these days (besides Dave, of course), but Perry was my man. I still think about becoming a lawyer and shaming people into a confession!
Sesame Street. This show came on when I was all of about 10 and I just remember thinking, “How wonderful that the little children have such a cool show they can watch now.” Secretly, I wished I could, too, because of this TV theme song which got lots of play on the pop stations in its early days.
The Dick Van Dyke Show. Perfect example of an instrumental TV theme that absolutely captured the fun and sophistication of the cast and characters and everything about this show. It really has to be one of the greatest ensemble casts with more talent per square-minute than almost any other, ever. It was beautiful, it was funny, and this song was the platform for the genius performances. SO good!
Batman. It had words. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman!
The Love Boat. In one hour, all your romantic problems could be fixed on the high seas. “Love exciting and new, come aboard. We’re expecting you…” I came aboard every Saturday night for 4 years. :)
The Monkees. Now this one is weird. Because I love the theme, but the actual show was totally beyond me, really. I wasn’t in tune to the humor, but I watched because I thought if I kept trying, I’d get there. But I loved their songs. Still do.
I Dream of Jeanie. Well. Don’t make me explain why I had to like this one.
Welcome Back, Kotter. A teacher returns to teach at his old school after his dreams had been his ticket out. John Travolta = Vinnie Barbarino. Good song. Cute Vinnie.
The Patty Duke Show. See what I mean? Not only did Patty Duke get to have her own theme song, she got to be 2 different characters. Ok. That’s it! Now I want my own theme song AND I want to be able to have more than one personality! But both – engaging and wonderful!
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Well, mid-century-modern cool, period. Seeing a dad as a friend was foreign to me, but I was very impressed at how Bill Bixby did it. I think it changed American perceptions about dads. The images during the theme song (not to mention those voice-over low-key conversations between a boy and his dad ) are undeniably strong.
Green Acres. “Green Acres is the place to be. Farm living is the life for me!” I could not have sang that better myself! I get Mr. Oliver Wendell Douglas. I get him. Now where is my version of that house and farm and cast of silly characters, including a pig named Arnold? Where, I ask you?
My Three Sons. This theme song also has a particular visual I could not NOT watch! It is so scaled-back hip, animated line-drawing cool! HAD to watch it whenever I could!
I recall quite a few shows for a girl with no TV at home from the mid-60s until the World Series of 1971, huh?
Bonus info…THESE two shows (also my favs)…
UNO:::The Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Who can turn the world on with her smile?” I wanted to grow up and wear the outfits she was wearing and “take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile,” and toss my hat into the air in the middle of the city just like Mary. The great strength of this show was an incredible supporting cast, strong characters and how it visually captured changing times. Great lyrics, warmth, memory-making, fun-to-sing! One of the best ever ~ and the one that sparked me thinking about TV themes because this actually could be a theme song for my great niece, Emilee. :)
DOS:::That Girl! (Marlo Thomas) I loved this show, but Marlo carried most of it. She did have the amazing Donald (her TV boyfriend), but her supporting cast didn’t do enough for her, I don’t think. “She’s everything that every girl should be….That girl!”
have led to today’s:
Uno + Dos + Tres = ::: New Girl starring Zoey Daschenal. This is one of my fav TV show themes ever, really! “Who’s that girl? Who’s that girl? It’s me!” Oops, “It’s Jess!” Well, I mean – I was wishing for some props like these and ya know: my own theme song.
Here is a YouTube playlist of all three openings. That Girl ~ Mary Tyler Moore Show ~ New Girl. Do I need to submit any further evidence of the need for a personal theme song? It ensures good lighting at all times, a fabulous wardrobe, and hats and good hair days, together or on their own. *sigh….
The MAIN problem I had was when I went to create this playlist on Spotify…
I saw so many other shows with great themes, too. Like Room 222, which I think I wrote a whole blog post about a few years back. Of course you cannot deny the power of Gilligan’s Island to make. you. crazy!!! I hate it, but the theme song is catchy. There was Hawaii 5-0, Bewitched (which I wasn’t supposed to like because of witches), and Family Affair, not to mention The Munsters…and so many more!
Many of these are not actually the original, but this is a fun, happy, good-memory kind of playlist, anyway!
What were your favorite TV themes? Do you have 20 or 50-some like me?
“My needs are small, I buy them all at the 5 & 10-cent store. I’ve got plenty to be thankful for!”
Bing Crosby sings those words in Holiday Inn, 1942
The video wasn’t embeddable, but fun scene. Watch it! CLICK ABOVE.
A November Space
It’s November. I don’t know exactly why I tend to so expressly observe times and seasons and months like I do. I just need to understand the time I am in…what is it for?
They taught us that in elementary school: in September it is yellow school busses and rain galoshes and sharpened yellow pencils and cursive handwriting practice. Then came the jack-o-lanterns of October, coloring spooky houses and friendly ghosts on math worksheets.
“Over the river and through the wood to grandmother’s house we go,” got trotted out each November in music class. I couldn’t have dreamed I’d ever be a grandmother and to this day I trace my grandchildren’s hands and make “turkeys” just the way I learned to do it in Kindergarten a hundred years ago. November was thankfulness and cornucopias and the browns and oranges and deep golds of crispy leaves blowing along the curb while we walked to school.
I like to mark the times, the days, the seasons and this IS a month for gratefulness. So many things should be marked with an official “thank-you,” and sometimes in the hurried months we forget. So November comes and reminds me. That is what this time is for.
O God, you have been good. You have been faithful to all generations.
It’s November.
It’s topaz and crisp mornings and where did all these falling leaves come from? It’s pumpkin-everything and Thanksgiving time and ok to start watching Christmas movies now. It’s All-Saints-Day (count me in!) and sweaters and scarves and good friends and coffee and building altars of remembrance. It’s a good time to rest and enjoy from the abundance of the storehouses the blessings of God on the year.
It’s taking a deep breath and leaving a space for quietness and reflection. It’s leaving a space to live today, in this moment and not already stressed about the holidays and the crazed shopping and every possible thing that must be completed before the year comes to an end. You know that will just take all your joy, don’t you? It’s November – leave some space, just wait a bit…
The earth sinks to rest until next spring…
“November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.
With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.
The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.” – Clyde Watson
Be careful, my sweets, not to rush into 2014 – not to begin making lofty plans or elevated goals for next year. This one isn’t over yet. November serves a purpose. It is not a month without noble intendment. There are things that need to rest until spring. Let them rest…
Happy November, one and all. Be sure to leave some space in your November…and be filled with thanksgiving. This is the time for it.
I just went out to the yard and thought: what a mess. So much garden clean-up needs done and there are leaves to be raked, but really? I kinda like it. I thought it was pretty. This are the scenes that caught my eye around the yard and out the doors…
The late afternoon was slipping into early evening, the foliage letting loose of its blazing, glorious hold.
The Scented Geranium is blushing.Hello, St. Francis. Happy All Saints Day. Burning bush. Burning away.
“Some one” took “my” potted mums, **ahem. Tara. ;)
Leaves. Who wants to come and rake?
This is just in one tiny, suburban yard. Just think what the rest of the world holds out there! Go. Find. ENJOY! :) Have a great weekend!
Houzz had the BEST article today (by Alison Hodgson, my FAV writer there). It’s about “How to Build Your Housekeeping Muscle,” but honestly – it is just a great perspective on how to develop your abilities at anything you might find perplexing.
She shares an example of a man who has loaned lots of money to friends and relatives over the years and how he isn’t bothered by it because he just sees himself as some one who is really good at saving money, as in “skilled at it.” His viewpoint took something we usually judge others about and turns not being very good at handling money from being some irreparable character flaw (the writer’s profound revelation about this totally hit me) in them as people ~ to something we can, with a little effort, actually become skilled in ~ whether that includes housekeeping, or managing a budget well, or making new friends, or good communication, getting fit or whatever it is that perhaps has been pointed out to us as being a weakness or imperfection calling our very value into question.
While we are often quick to judge other people harshly for what we see as a major character impairment, a proof of a lack of development in who they should be as a person (#don’taskmehowIknow), maybe they are just good people who have not yet developed skills in certain areas – just. like. us.
I won’t tell on myself, but…
My mom was the most “distracted” housekeeper on the planet, which drove my perfectionist dad up the proverbial wall and caused him to rule the roost by making endless, demanding lists of to-do for every member of the family. Even after I was married, and moved hundreds of miles away, when we came for a visit, I was given a list! OH-Yes, he did!:) It’s an honor for me now, to get to be helpful to my parents, but in my early 20s I was probably pretty incredulous. Haha.
Now, my dad is known to be highly competent and get-things-done-well NOW! and I like that. He is a high-capacity leader, a pastor trusted for high-impact ministry and church growth. But my mom is also known ~ as the woman who makes him bearable. She is without guile in any way, so loving and non-judgemental. She can make a lifelong-wholly-devoted friend from the most snarky and committed enemy.
There were church ladies and relatives who judged my mom’s housekeeping as inferior, but her character: above reproach. There is not a person in the world who doesn’t want to be around her because of how she cheers them on and showers them with love. Over time, she learned to follow my dad’s “guidance” and keeps a lovely home. But she wasn’t born that way and she is in NO WAY deficient in her character!
It is interesting, I think, how we like to compare some one else’s weakness in skill against our own strength as though it automatically makes them flawed. Or we do it to ourselves, thinking, “I wish I weren’t so awful at ______,” feeling doomed forever by some label (“I’m the messy one,” or “I’m the one who can’t do _____,” or “I’m the clumsy one,” etc).
So, the article:: This was just so thought-provoking to me, I wanted to thank Alison Hodgson and share it here. Hope it gets you thinking, too, and giving yourself and others GRACE and great hope for the future. Just simple tips to follow to get the skill you need to strengthen the area you feel condemned about, housekeeping or whatever else.
YAHOO News [10.29.13]: Nothing is stronger than the bond between mother and child. This certainly rings true at the Leroux household in Ontario, Canada. Their daughter loves one of her mom’s songs so much, it send sher into floods of tears, every time she hears it. Mom Amanda Leroux told Storyful: “No one can explain why, not even I. I can sing any other song and do not get the same reaction from her. It’s to adorable to keep all to ourselves.” Update: The song is “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” which has been performed by both Rod Stewart and Sara Evans. Credit: Alain Leroux.
Don’t try to tell me this baby doesn’t already understand the power of melody, the emotion in a song. This is amazing! Her response is so subdued, she chokes back her emotion while tears shoot out. It is mesmerizing to see and I just want to scoop her up and sing a happy song for her. Hope her mommy did!
“I Loathe, Despise & Abominate Halloween” BUT wait: I LOVE the trick-or-treaters!!!
This is my nearly-2000-word {highly-opinionated} essay (w/no pictures) on WHY I hate Halloween~
I don’t hate little kids, all cute and dressed up coming to my door with an open bag. That actually requires a lot of trust in this day and age and I look at it as a chance to bless the little children, a chance to be a nice neighbor. Trick-or-treating does not bother me, really, because the kids (young kids only, please – you kids that are old enough to work – go buy your own dang candy) are just excited to get to wear a costume and eat more candy than they should. I hate, literally loath, despise and abominate Halloween, but maybe for reasons different than you’d imagine…
The Horror of Retail {mwa, mwa, mwa….}
For 5 years I ran a retail party store. Halloween was the BIG ONE. It drove our sales for the year and I had to be number one (I just HAD TO!…and was!!, ok – strike that last prideful statement), so can you imagine my deep loathing for both milking-Halloween-for-all-it-was-worth for the money we could rake in and just hating the symbols that have come to represent it all? I set everything and worked my head off (can you say 90+ hours a week during the evil-season??) to sell to people who would purchase useless styro-headstones, “bloody” goblets and giant fuzzy spiders. Fog machines were the biggest rip-off and anything witchy-skeletony-or-ghoulish you could add double-D batteries to so it would light up or make some horrific noise were big sellers.
And then there were the costumes. We sold all those crappy costumes plus face paint and fake blood, stitches, etc.
And people would FILL those carts and spend hundreds of dollars. I both loved racking up the sales AND I disrespected seeing people waste that much money on something like Halloween, a “holiday” that really celebrates nothing that means eternal anything to me.
The worst part though? The company “encouraged” (read: forced) us to “dress up” – the whole month of October! It is fun for like, three days. The other 28, not so much. I have been a nun, a gypsy, a bunch of grapes. There were platinum blond wigs, Cleopatra headdresses and hot pink beehives. I was never “evil,” just dressed, all the while managing a hopping Halloween staff, chasing shoplifters, receiving Christmas and trying to make that transition as fast as humanly possible and just gritting my green-hick-farmer teeth to get through.
Suffice it to say I had more Halloween than I ever wanted and enough to last 37 people a lifetime. Yuck.
The Great Halloween Debate
And to top it off, I have spent almost a lifetime in the middle of the great Halloween debate: Is it OK for Christians to Participate?? OR Is it an evil-pagan holiday dedicated to devil-worship that we should avoid at all costs? I gotta tell you, I DO wish to avoid it all costs, but not for spiritual reasons, necessarily because the devil doesn’t own my days – not any of them. Dare I say I think it falls under the Romans 14 directive for disputable matters?…I do. Let the stoning begin…
Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!
This year my home church decided not to have the Halloween alternative they usually have. And nobody knows quite what to do.
When I was growing up (in my very Christian, very strict Pentecostal preacher’s home), our parents let us trick-or-treat. In retrospect, that seems crazy. I couldn’t cut my hair, wear make-up or listen to the radio, at least “legally”, but I got to trick-or-treat. Strange. The church hadn’t been super-sensitized to the meanings and origins of the day back then. They still really thought it was just kids dressing up and getting lots of candy. And even after it became a “test of righteousness” in Christian circles, the churches my dad pastored still usually offered an alternative like a “Harvest Fest” with fall activities and the kiddos dressing up. I remember church bulletins reminding everyone that no “ghosts, ghouls or goblins” were allowed to attend, but costumes were welcomed.
Dave’s family was an absolutely-not Halloween family. I was from the use-the-opportunity-to-witness stream. My earliest memories are of my mom explaining to me that I had to do a “trick” to get a “treat,” and wow, was I ever willing! My trick was always to sing a song of some sort and since we didn’t do secular music, my song always had something to do with Jesus. The first year I could sing it all, I did – at every. single. house. “…for the Bible tells me so.” Deep breath, the person tries to give me candy, I whip my bag away from them , my mom reminds me, and whale on, “Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!…” They were prisoners to the end. But I would not take that candy until I had witnessed of the Lord’s love the full way through.
Pagan Roots
It seems H’ween has its roots in pagan Celtic festivals, the Druids dancing around bonfires and offering sacrifices to the spirit world for the harvest. So actually – having a church “Harvest Festival” is not an improvement on Halloween, necessarily. During the ancient pagan fetsival, Candy Corn would begin to fall from the sky, just kidding…just checking to see if you are still reading. ;p Haha.
In the 8th century, the Pope moved All Saint’s Day to November 1, so October 31st became “All Hallows Eve” and most people think he did it to claim the 31st back for Christians, which frankly, I applaud. What I bind on earth is bound both here and in heaven. We do have some authority in Jesus’ Name, people!
I digress.
So, then there is a biblical scripture-storm that erupts annually against having any part. One of the scriptures often cited is Ephesians 5.7-12 NLT:
7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.
Or, there is Deuteronomy 18.10-12 NLT
For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you.
And there are lots of other verses that are used to promote total abstinence from any type of Halloween participation. And they are important scriptures with definite guidelines for what we should and shouldn’t be participating in. But I honestly don’t see them saying “Little kids dressing up and trick-or-treating is anti-scriptural.” I just don’t. My grandbebes, who will dress as Nacho Libre or a Strawberry or as princesses or Batman this year? They will NOT be calling forth spirits of the dead or hosting seances. We will not sacrifice them as burnt offerings. They will NOT participate in drunken parties and godlessness of that sort and I will teach them to speak up for righteousness through their vote as citizens and to protect the helpless and feed the hungry. That is how they are being raised. They are being raised to be who God created them to be (light!) and to do what God has ordained for them to do and to fulfill their destiny for God in their generation. Period!
The devil doesn’t get my grandbebes. I truly and humbly do not see trick-or-treating as the step into a dark realm. If anything, I see it as “Hallowed,” like the old Pope wanted it to be because he went to enemy’s camp and took back what was stolen (know that song? Don’t make me sing it here!). My days are the LORD’S. All of them! And it is a great time to show our babies the difference between light and darkness by not worshipping death, not giving in to demonic influence and avoiding rebelliousness (which is as the sin of witchcraft and rarely gets corrected in Christendom).
Renunciation.
You know what, though? If you came from an occultic background where you used the 31st as part of demon worship and you have walked away from it being born into Christ and you have renounced that past – by all means, don’t participate. It holds something for you it doesn’t for me. Don’t be enslaved into any bondage you have been delivered from again! I would stand with you in that, and I mean that! Or if you just have a strong conviction that you don’t want your family to participate, because to you, it seems like being part of an agreement with the world, part of this godless generation and you’d rather make a stand here – then make that stand. I support you in that, but Romans 14, again {“disputable matters”}…
Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.
Figure it out. Study it through. Pray. Ask the Lord. Listen. And be obedient there and let’s not let a disputable matter polarize us as Christians, or get us fighting one another in scriptural-sword fighting. Because? Then the stupid-head devil wins. Geesh, people – it is when he breaks our unity that we are trashed – not when some low-level demon flies around a room impressing the idiots who want that sort of thing. RESIST HIM, seriously. He HAS to flee!
I loathe, despise and abominate* Halloween because of how it separates us and causes holier-then-thou crap and we make each other the enemy instead of THE enemy. And I hate all the blackness and darkness because I am of the Light, but oh, by the way, I shine ever so much more brightly in the dark places. I say kick-him-in-the-butt and bless the little children when they come to your door: give the best candy, the biggest smile, the greatest encouragement and give ’em a God-bless-you, because that actually is within your power to do. Heaven will hear and attend to your blessing! May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven! On Halloween, even!
‘Nuff said.
*In the book version of Meet Me in St Louis, the sisters show their distaste for things by saying “I hate, loathe, despise and abominate {fill-in-the-blank}”. I think it is used a time or two in the Judy Garland movie, too. It is a fav family quote.
“Live as people of light!”
RT @ pastormark via ryan may: “If you’re one of those Christians who is going to give out tracts for Halloween, also give enough candy to make a kid a diabetic!” Haha!
So this Thursday, October 31, 2013? I stand by it. The devil can’t have that day or that night in my life, my neighborhood or in my family! We are a holy people redeemed by the LORD!
OH, and…if you’d like to be really super missional this year (have they been talking to my mother???), THIS SITE has tons of ways to redeem Halloween and makie it a teaching and being-a-nice-Christian kind of thing!
It’s really cold today. And last night I watched “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, because I just couldn’t wait a whole year. Plus I need to get into the Christmas mood for some marketing I am starting this week for a **major production**…So I thought I’d check out a few online businesses and see what they have going for Christmas.
They have a “take a trip to the Tree Lot” campaign going and the scroll-down promo is really fun! Makes me ready for Christmas! See it {{HERE!}} Then just scroll down, quickly or slowly and back up if you want. It’s really cool!
