Personally, we sit on more of the Reformation Day side of October 31. And honestly, it's easy when you have a child who isn't exactly into chaos. Somewhere between that and the thought that he might say "trick or treat" every time he knocked on a door for a while made it easy for us to just stay home, sit on the porch, and teach our kids to give away candy.
It was calm for a while. I took Richie to AWANA Cubbies, then came back to sit on the front porch. In a fit of thoughtfulness, I even had a peanut-friendly bowl and a peanut-allergy-respectful bowl. The first few people I asked about peanut allergies looked at me like I was out of my gourd. But hey, I know people whose kids are severely allergic enough to try.
For the most part, it was hanging out on the porch with my Mom, J, and my kids. Fun stuff. For a long time, the only thing joining us were mosquitoes, and they didn't seem interested in candy.
Ryan spent most of the evening with the iPod and headphones. He wanted a "juicy red sucker" so I got one that his teacher gave him that day. Such a happy boy! I was quite impressed that he insisted on walking out to a few of the first groups and telling them hello, then coming back to his post on the doorstep.
A few times he tried to assimilate. He tried to blend in and walk away with a crowd of kids every now and again, trying to reconcile this odd activity with his usual Wednesday night. After all, these kids dressed strangely walked up to our doorstep, said "trick or treat", accepted candy, and walked away. Strange activity indeed.
The groups of kids (and slightly too old to be trick or treating kids) slowed quickly. As I left to get Richie from Cubbies, I told Mom and J to give out handfuls, fearing I'd be stuck with a LOT of candy.
When I returned, they'd done just as I suggested, but still had at least a huge mixing bowl full of candy. Our house sits farther back on our corner than the other houses on our street, so I think some people either didn't want to walk up there, or just weren't sure we were participating. At any rate, we just didn't have many for a long time. Wanting to get the candy out of my house, I walked out about halfway to the street with my big bowl, and sure enough, they came out of the woodwork.
After one group of mostly band students left, Maelynn, Richie, and I were looking at the stars. Maelynn looked up and, through lots of chockie-chockie, Skittles, and other candies smeared on her face, said, "Mommy! Look at the stars you made!"
Whoops.
So I've blown the first three or so catechism questions.
We had a sweet moment of explaining that no, God made the stars, as well as everything else.
Then the happy, etherial, sweet-moment mommy bubble exploded with one question from the porch...
"Hey... do you see Ryan?!?"
He made it almost to the street. I wasn't watching. I was talking. I was reveling in doing just one thing right, and while I was mentally patting myself on the back, I was neglecting one HUGE thing.
Thankfully, I caught him before he followed these kids down the street.
How many times do we do this? Flying on a compliment, being given a task, and we forget who we are. How much responsibility we have that we can't begin to uphold... and it catches up with us.
There's nothing wrong with accepting a compliment. There's nothing wrong with being complimented. But there is a lot wrong with forgetting humility in the process. I was so busy with my own little moment that I hadn't heard my mother telling me he was coming.
Yet again, I'm thankful for grace. Ryan is safe, Maelynn learned something, and I received a nicely-sized reminder to stay diligent.
And all in all, it was a pretty great night.
Thanks be to God!
It was calm for a while. I took Richie to AWANA Cubbies, then came back to sit on the front porch. In a fit of thoughtfulness, I even had a peanut-friendly bowl and a peanut-allergy-respectful bowl. The first few people I asked about peanut allergies looked at me like I was out of my gourd. But hey, I know people whose kids are severely allergic enough to try.
For the most part, it was hanging out on the porch with my Mom, J, and my kids. Fun stuff. For a long time, the only thing joining us were mosquitoes, and they didn't seem interested in candy.
Ryan spent most of the evening with the iPod and headphones. He wanted a "juicy red sucker" so I got one that his teacher gave him that day. Such a happy boy! I was quite impressed that he insisted on walking out to a few of the first groups and telling them hello, then coming back to his post on the doorstep.
A few times he tried to assimilate. He tried to blend in and walk away with a crowd of kids every now and again, trying to reconcile this odd activity with his usual Wednesday night. After all, these kids dressed strangely walked up to our doorstep, said "trick or treat", accepted candy, and walked away. Strange activity indeed.
The groups of kids (and slightly too old to be trick or treating kids) slowed quickly. As I left to get Richie from Cubbies, I told Mom and J to give out handfuls, fearing I'd be stuck with a LOT of candy.
When I returned, they'd done just as I suggested, but still had at least a huge mixing bowl full of candy. Our house sits farther back on our corner than the other houses on our street, so I think some people either didn't want to walk up there, or just weren't sure we were participating. At any rate, we just didn't have many for a long time. Wanting to get the candy out of my house, I walked out about halfway to the street with my big bowl, and sure enough, they came out of the woodwork.
After one group of mostly band students left, Maelynn, Richie, and I were looking at the stars. Maelynn looked up and, through lots of chockie-chockie, Skittles, and other candies smeared on her face, said, "Mommy! Look at the stars you made!"
Whoops.
So I've blown the first three or so catechism questions.
We had a sweet moment of explaining that no, God made the stars, as well as everything else.
Then the happy, etherial, sweet-moment mommy bubble exploded with one question from the porch...
"Hey... do you see Ryan?!?"
He made it almost to the street. I wasn't watching. I was talking. I was reveling in doing just one thing right, and while I was mentally patting myself on the back, I was neglecting one HUGE thing.
Thankfully, I caught him before he followed these kids down the street.
How many times do we do this? Flying on a compliment, being given a task, and we forget who we are. How much responsibility we have that we can't begin to uphold... and it catches up with us.
There's nothing wrong with accepting a compliment. There's nothing wrong with being complimented. But there is a lot wrong with forgetting humility in the process. I was so busy with my own little moment that I hadn't heard my mother telling me he was coming.
Yet again, I'm thankful for grace. Ryan is safe, Maelynn learned something, and I received a nicely-sized reminder to stay diligent.
And all in all, it was a pretty great night.
Thanks be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment