Costumes and compromises....

November 3, 2009

Wow, last week was a whirlwind!

Halloween ended up being a whole lot of fun this year. For one, it didn't rain. Secondly, I've finally arrived at the big Halloween promotion. I don't have to walk up and ring the doorbell at every house. I am an end-of-the-driveway Trick-Or-Treater Supervisor now! Yipee! However, the whole Halloween season started out, I could tell, very hard for Candan. He's not ever super big on the day in the beginning of October. He tells me that first day or so of the month that he'd just prefer me buying him a box of chocolate and being done with it (I'd be more than okay with that!). As the month progresses, he usually figures something out that he'd like to dress up as, and then he gets excited about the big day. This year was harder than usual for him to get into the (forgive the pun) spirit.

It was two days before the parade, and still he couldn't decide what to dress up as or if he wanted to at all. He'd been Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, a soccer player, a hockey player, and a knight in recent years past. There wasn't much left that hadn't been done yet. And he knew what all his friends were going to be-- scary.

He knows I don't do scary, and he doesn't like it either one bit. All his friends would be dressed as vampires or other assorted gory, bloody things for the school Halloween parade [which we don't have a dress code for, but I think we should. It was (again, forgive the pun) hauntingly telling of the dark world we live in. Nine year-olds dressed as Death is heart-wrenching.]

There was huge pressure to be something he didn't want to be.

The world is never going to help us out to be pleasing in His sight. The world celebrates darkness and fear and death, and it's easier sometimes to go along with what others are doing so we don't stand out as different. The truth is, he wouldn't have been happy had he gone as Dracula, because he'd know the compromise he'd made. Compromising what you believe in will never make you happier.

He went as a scarecrow. A darling scarecrow. He said it's okay to scare birds if it's to save the cornfield. He's so cute, and I am so proud of him. (He wasn't smiling in this picture because his dorky mom was embarrassing him by making him stand up after his class sat back down after their turn marching in the parade. My camera wasn't ready as they passed by.)

Oh, and speaking of darling... here's a sweet pink m&m.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2