Autumn: Halloween, Thanksgiving and the World View

Writer: Josh Fuller

I know that when the season changes into autumn, with the leaves changing and the temperatures dropping, everyone gets into the feeling of fall décor and all that comes with it. But with that also comes the madness of the holidays, especially Halloween and Thanksgiving. I, for one, am not crazy about holidays, but Halloween is one that I truly avoid participating in. That’s not to say I won’t be grateful on Thanksgiving for the blessings God has bestowed upon us.

Autumn is the time when the trees begin losing their leaves, plants begin drying up, and harvest time arrives. It wasn’t always the crazy, commercialized season that it has become, with all the sales, parades, and what I see as the devil’s wiles.

So many people have fallen into what has become the “expected norm” that, as much as I hate to say it, God has been taken out of it.

I have seen the dark, lonely, and poor side of life, and I have seen others experience it as well. Because of that, I truly appreciate the opportunity to be thankful.

But I must be completely blunt here: Why are we only thankful on Thanksgiving? Or only generous on Christmas?

God asks us to be thankful year-round, even in the dark and scary times. That’s where I think so many people struggle with that very fact, and I have been trying to understand what people are thinking.

Now, I’m not trying to say all of this to be negative.

It says in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything...” The natural instinct during the holidays is to become stressed out, mentally exhausted, and caught up in that all-too-familiar family drama.

But where does Jesus Christ fit into that kind of atmosphere?

I just wanted to get this off my chest and put it into words. Paul was very direct when he said this in Colossians 3:13: “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

The Native American food offerings during our first Thanksgiving as Pilgrims were cordial and generous. I truly believe that a large percentage of the people in our nation have forgotten our true, bare-bones, no-nonsense roots.

Halloween has taken hold of our stores and our very lives as well. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is Jesus Christ and His desires for us year-round.

The Devil May Pry, But God’s Grip Is Stronger Than That

Isaiah 60:22

“The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”