Redeeming Halloween

I originally posted this three years ago, but it seems worth revisiting. Happy snowy Halloween to my Illinois readers!

When I was little, I celebrated Halloween without thinking much about the spirituality of it. We had a great time dressing up, carving pumpkins, and decorating--just without witches and other scary things.

When I reached high school, I had a handful of friends whose parents were opposed to Halloween and refused to particpate in any part of it. That got me thinking about my own views on the matter. At the time I concluded that there was nothing wrong with Halloween if it was celebrated Christianly.

When I had kids of my own, I followed my parents' example. But I wasn't totally comfortable with the whole thing. I mean, if Halloween celebrates death, and Christians celebrate life, how can we participate with a clear conscience? Is that participating in deeds of darkness (Rom. 13:12; Eph. 5:11)? If it had existed back then, would Jesus have celebrated Halloween while he was on earth? I sort of thought not. So even as I dressed my kids up and handed out candy, I sort of felt like a hypocrite. I felt like I was compromising with the world rather than being a light to it.

Well, this year I've found a great book on the subject, and it's revolutionized my thinking.


This is a Tyndale House book (where my husband works, so we usually get free copies of this kind of book), published in 2004, but somehow I'd never seen it before.

The authors start by talking about the history of Halloween. As you probably know, it came from All Hallow's or All Saint's day, the day that honored all the saints and martyrs. This Christian holiday was moved to October in an effort to reclaim the pagan festival called Sow-en. The point of all of this is that Halloween started out Christian, and became about death and witchcraft later. So in bringing the light of Christ to this holiday, we are taking it back to its roots. The authors write, "This book is not a plan for Halloween alternatives. We don't suggest you simply remake the world's version of Halloween. We hope to inspire you to take back the celebration that rightly belongs to the people of God and restore the purpose for which it was established." (p. 18-19). No more guilt!

Here are some of their practical tips to help Christians celebrate Halloween spiritually.

1) Have your kids dress up likes someone that represents a group they want to tell about Jesus. This can be interpreted very loosely: Ninjas represent Asia, a flapper represents people in dance clubs, sea creatures represent sailors. The point is not to limit your children, but to add a spiritual dimension to what they want to do. I'd still leave out witches and wherewolves, though. Then use the week leading up to Halloween to pray for those people.

2) Decorate in ways that show light, not darkness. Think luminaria, white lights, and harvest themes rather than witches and ghosts.

3) Jack o' lanterns were originally created to scare away evil spirits, but these too can be redeemed. The authors have great suggestions for using pumpkin carving to show spiritual truth: as you cut open the top, remind yourself to have the mind of Christ; as you clean out the seeds, think about confessing your sin to God and allowing him to get rid of all that yucky stuff; as you carve the eyes, think about ways you can avoid looking for the faults of others; as you carve the mouth, think of ways to use your words to bless others; as you light the candle, think of letting Christ's light shine in you. It might be fun to have your kids brainstorm all the spiritual truths they can think of that relate to pumpkin-carving, using some of these examples as thought-starters.

4) As you open up your door to trick-or-treaters, think of ways to be generous. Make your home inviting and fun, even wearing a costume yourself. And in my opinion, if you're going to give out Bible verses or tracts with your candy, you better have the best candy on the block. (And it better be candy, not pretzels or fruit snacks!)

5) To have fun with the "trick" part of Halloween, think of people who might need some encouragement. Help your kids make cards or buy little gifts for these people, and then leave them anonymously. Kids love sneaking around, and this is one way they can have fun and bless someone at the same time.

There are tons more ideas in the book for fun parties and more. There is a really good chapter of ideas for teachers to do with their classes.

This year I'm going to get into the true spirit of Halloween, not celebrate it halfheartedly and with a touch of guilt! I hope you will too.

A Word of Thanks

We went to our first high school choir concert this week, and were blown away by the repertoire and talent of these kids. When we were in high school we sang pop music with a few slightly more serious pieces thrown in here and there. These kids were singing real music, pieces with poetry and depth and musical texture. Some of it was even overtly Christian.

So when we got home, I wrote a quick email to the choir director thanking her for choosing such great music. Because if we don't thank people when we are pleased with their work, how will they know that we like what they are doing? A timely note of thanks is not only a kind encouragement, it also keeps people moving in the same direction. Which is especially important in a public school, when others may be criticizing the very things we are so happy with.

The next evening I mentioned to my husband that I had written a nice note to the choir director. He smiled and said, "I did too." So now either we look like we never talk to one another, or like we are on some kind of a campaign.

How about you? Who could use a little note of thanks from you today?

Your Best Foot Forward

I just ran across this article and found it fascinating. (Go ahead and take a look at it.) It is a useful glimpse of what people with some mental illnesses go through, and as such it is a help in understanding them and perhaps empathizing a bit more with their struggles.

I don't want to minimize the very real struggles of mental illness. Mental illness is hard, and perhaps doubly hard when you are able to put a brave face on and make people think you're okay. Your already invisible illness becomes more invisible and you probably feel even more alone with your struggles.

But on another level I think we could all take side-by-side photos of who we really are versus who we want the world to see. We post a picture of our darling little child in the pumpkin patch, but only moments before we were yelling at him in frustration. We tell about our promotion at work but not about the way we just snapped at our husband. We take a picture of the homemade bread, applesauce, and soup we cooked for our family tonight but not the chicken nuggets from the freezer bag we served them the night before.

One of the complaints against social media is that you are comparing someone else's "best foot forward" with your own secret worst moments. You can feel like the world's worst mom when you compare your kids' Halloween costumes with the hand-stitched ones someone else made. To make yourself feel better you put your own best moments on display, but then you feel like a bit of a hypocrite because you know there were some not-so-good moments immediately before and after whatever you posted.

Last spring women posted no-makeup selfies, I think related to breast cancer awareness or something. Maybe that's a start. But more than that, I want my public persona to be completely genuine. I want to be the same person at home that I am at church and driving the kids to school and standing behind the slow person at the grocery store and stuck in traffic.

If I'm having a bad day, I want to be the kind of person who answers honestly when someone asks me how my day is but doesn't take out my grumpy mood on whichever child is not cooperating with my plans . . . or whichever one is closest. I want to be the same amount of patient and kind with my husband and children that I am with the people I work with. I want to be totally willing to open my home to my children's friends because I know that who we are behind closed doors is the same as who we are when we're outside.

So I guess my challenge to myself is to make my home-alone portrait match my best-foot-forward portrait, and vice versa. No surprises, no gimmicks, just unapologetically me. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes friendly, often shy, always thankful for the life I have and living it the best I know how.

And so this week I'm going to be more mindful of being the same person at home and when I'm away. I'm going to not overthink what I say to people who ask me about my day or what I post on facebook, but just be genuine. And I'm going to post about real life, not just the smiles and successes.

How about you? Do you feel like you have a secret dual life?

Mondays with Martha: Favorite Spaces

When your kitchen looks like this...

It's important to focus on the positives about your home. So for this week's homemakery post I'd like to focus on favorite spaces. What is your favorite place in your home? Maybe you have to think for a minute to determine what it is. Or maybe you know what your favorite place is but you have neglected it for a bit and it is currently too cluttered or dirty to rank as your favorite place. Or maybe you're in your favorite space this very minute.

Here is mine.


I love it because we haven't had a fireplace in many years, and we're fire-in-the-fireplace people. I also love it because I envision many happy moments of family togetherness here. It is absolutely the perfect place to read Little House in the Big Woods to my little people. And also apparently the ideal spot for an animal hospital. This is the third or fourth iteration of the mantel, and the best so far, but I'd welcome decorating suggestions if you're so inclined.

What about you? I'd love to hear about--or better yet get a picture of--your favorite place in your home. Leave a comment or send me a picture and I'll share it here tomorrow!

I'm Back!

I guess I have a love-hate relationship with this blog, or maybe with blogs in general. Sometimes I get fatigued by the idea of more words going out into cyberspace. Sometimes it feels like too much introspection, too many word selfies. Blogs are quickly written, quickly forgotten. Every now and then a post well-deservedly goes viral and when I read it I am partly grateful for its wisdom or cleverness and partly jealous of its writer's talent. In so many ways I feel inadequate to reenter the blogosphere.

But lately I've been feeling the urge to write, even if no one reads it. Maybe it's that I haven't had much editing work this fall (bummer), or maybe it's that our kitchen project is making house cleaning feel futile, or maybe it's that I should be writing more to prepare myself for whatever is next in life. At any rate, here I am again, for better or for worse. Did you miss me?

In the past year we have somewhat unexpectedly moved, sold a house, changed schools for all the kids, started high school, and begun a massive kitchen renovation wherein the walls were taken down to the studs. Life has been busy. There is probably a lot to write about. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, because every good blog post has a picture, here is one of us saying goodbye to our beloved house. Many happy memories were made there, and many happy memories have already been made in our new home. We are thankful.

(I don't know why we didn't compose the picture better, but it is what we were able to get before the camera ran out of batteries . . . which is on so many levels a fair representation of our hectic life this summer.)

A Poem for My Publishing Friends

Editor Emma and Publisher Paige        

By Alison Taylor, 2013

Editor Emma and Publisher Paige

Worked very hard for a very small wage.

Day after day, hour after hour,

They worked on the books, gave the sentences power.

Editor Emma told Publisher Paige

“We can’t work this hard for this small a wage.”

But Publisher Paige just told Editor Emma,

“I really don’t care, it’s a tiny dilemma.”

Then Editor Emma got really upset.

“You can work this hard, but this you’ll regret!”

But Publisher Paige just shrugged and said, “Fine.

I need this job, it’s my place to shine.”

Editor Emma just stormed out the door,

Leaving footprints all over Paige’s office floor.

But Publisher Paige didn’t stay for a minute,

She kept doing her work for a time infinite.

So in the end, Miss Paige had a job.

But Picky old Emma could only sob.

Homeless and moneyless (she didn’t get paid),

She was regretful instead of Paige.