This Little Pumpkin Light of mine!
by Patricia Foley-Gibson
as Published on the ChristianMirror website
The Fall season of Harvesting is now upon us! I have been anxiously awaiting the crisp air and cooler temperatures that this colorful season has to offer and the time has finally arrived. This is a time when the fruits of the earth are ready to be gathered. Our grocery stores and roadside stands are filled with fall produce. When I see them, I always want to take some home to use for decoration. From stalks of cane and cotton, to gourds and pumpkins, I love to bring God’s Fall creations inside.
Pumpkins are also a Halloween favorite. In the fall of my son’s third grade year, he was encouraged by his teacher to enter a pumpkin-decorating contest. This was my first real experience with actually transforming a pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern. Soon our chosen pumpkin was hulled and its face carved. Then we faced our biggest problem, getting mother and son to agree on the final touches. In the end we had a rather cute, freckled-faced pumpkin, wearing a straw hat and a red bandanna! No awards were won, but the memories were very sweet. Even sweeter than the pumpkin cake I later baked. After the contest, the pumpkin was placed on our front porch with a candle carefully placed inside, making our decorated pumpkin into a real Jack-O-Lantern!
The pumpkins we use for Jack-O-Lanterns today are believed to be from the New World and not native of Europe, which is where the legends surrounding Halloween began. They are, however, part of the same family.
Many myths and legends surround not only pumpkins, but also Halloween itself. When you look at the historical facts of the era,*** it is clear to see that these legends are far-fetched (as most legends are). It is true that many only see the evil, satanic side associated with Halloween, but I choose to look at the good in something rather than the evil. Just as Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, "Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good." I choose to find the good! How about you?
Below is a story that I received in an email. The author’s name is unknown but the contents will forevermore remind me of the "good" that can be found in a Jack-O-Lantern of Halloween.
A lady had recently been baptized.
One of her co-workers asked her what
it was like to be a Christian.
She was caught off guard and didn't know how to answer; but when she looked up, she saw a jack-o'-lantern on the desk and answered: "It's like being a pumpkin."
The co-worker asked her to explain.
"Well, God picks you from the patch and brings you in and washes off all the dirt on the outside that you got from being around all the other pumpkins.
Then he cuts off the top and takes all the yucky stuff out from inside. He removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc.
Then he carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all to see.
It is our choice to either stay outside and rot on the vine or come inside and be something new and bright."
I'll never look at a pumpkin the same way again!!
You have probably never explained your religious beliefs in this way, but I hope that you are prepared to do so! We are instructed in 1 Peter 3:15 to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (KJV). As Christians, we are to tell others about Christ. This is made so much easier when we make a habit of seeing the "good" in something instead of the bad.
After becoming a Christian, having the dirt of the world washed away and that smiley face put on, we are filled with a "Christian Glow" that shines for all to see, much like that smiling Jack-O-Lantern! Today we must keep that light burning inside of us, brightly enough for others to see! And to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
Whatever our opinion of Halloween, this season, as we view the many jack-o-lanterns that decorate our front porches and towns, let them be a reminder to us as children of God, to let our Christian Light shine too!
Patricia Foley Gibson
2001
