Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Autumn/Fall (08/27/09)
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TITLE: Coffee and Broomsticks | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Harris
09/03/09 -
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“Earth to Liza,” one of the girls giggling said, “where were you just then?”
Laughing I said, “In my ADD world, I guess…what did I miss?”
H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N! Liza…What’s your view on Halloween?
The color must have drained out of my face. Here I was supposed to be mentoring these young moms and I missed out on their view with my daydreaming. How embarrassing. So, I answered Brooke’s question with a question.
Well, would you tell me your stand on Halloween?
“Sure,” she said as she tossed her long bleached blonde hair over her shoulder and crossed her beautiful tan legs almost in one musical swoop. “We do not allow our children to trick or treat, we LOVE our kids.” She said with a touch of arrogance.
Wincing inside my head, I turned to sweet little Tara. Even on a fat day she was never bigger than a size two, “how about you, Tara?” I said.
Looking a bit apprehensive, Tara said, “We don’t dress up but we take the kids out to eat and to the movies splurging on candy.”
Smiling I turned and looked at Sheila…she was a bit bolder in speech so I didn’t know what to expect, “Well,” Sheila said, “we allow them to dress-up and then we go to a church festival for the evening.”
Awesome! You all sound like you know what’s best for your family!
“But what about you Liza…how did y’all raise your kids?” Tara asked.
I looked at all three women and said a quick prayer…
Well…hang on to your seats girls because we went…TRICK OR TREATING.
“NO WAY,” Brooke exclaimed, but you’re so…so...Godly.
My eyebrows shot up as I said, “I don’t know about Godly but I try to be obedient.”
“But weren’t you afraid of poisoned candy or your kids biting into sharp objects?” asked Brooke.
“And what about the evil, said Sheila…we were concerned about the wickedness of Halloween.”
“Okay…this is the thing; I said as the girls leaned in to catch my words, you can make anything evil. Television, movies, books, computers, etc….but you need to be selective and wise. We decided since we both grew up trick or treating and had happy memories we decided to allow our children to do so. We had guidelines which meant the costumes had to be created from scratch, they had to be fun, we only went to neighbors we knew well and they couldn’t eat all the candy in one night!” smiling, I continued on. “We developed a tradition with my parents…they came, took pictures and gave out candy while we were gone. Then we came back for a Halloween dinner of chili. The kids would then dump their sugar-load on the floor and drool until we shooed them to bed.”
I looked up at each girl and watched them soak in all that I just said…
Brooke spoke up with remembering eyes, “well, I grew up trick or treating and it was so much fun but when my husband and I became Christians we felt we shouldn’t raise our children to participate in Halloween.”
“Brooke, you both need to do what God speaks into your heart. What anyone else does may not be what God is telling you. Just be obedient to God and He will bless your family,” I said hugging her.
Tara looked at all of us and suddenly burst out laughing. “Y’all, this is funny because we’re so caught up in ‘doing the Christian thing,’ we forget how we also LOVE Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny! Like Liza says, as long as we keep Christ first in our homes and teach our children to honor Him, God will protect their hearts.”
As I climbed back onto my broom…oops, I mean into my car, I think to myself, “mentoring is sometimes another word for mothering; maybe I’ll just brew up some strong coffee and stir around a few more thoughts on this….”
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