A Lovely Halloween

Wish you could have joined us. Food was delicious.

Two neighbors lost their homes in the Black Forest fire. The desire to love well in the midst of this horrendous context was real. But how?

Initiate toward them? 

Cry with them?

Offer help? 

                                                                                                                         Throw a Halloween shower in their honor.  (My only experience in this area was providing orange-frosted cupcakes during our son’s elementary years.)

But Char loved Halloween. It was her favorite holiday and every year she hosted an elaborate bash for her daughters and their friends. Now all the scary decor was ash … swept away in the clean-up … gone … history.

The proverbial light bulb shown brightly. Gather the neighbors and her circle of friends and host a Halloween shower. No costumes, just food, friends, and new Halloween decor for Char. 

“That is the loveliest thing anyone has ever done for me”, she responded the morning I phoned to ask if she would be comfortable with the idea.  

We planned, invited, prepared. It was fun and a huge success.

The night of the shower, I fell asleep with my mouth curved in a smile.

“Love is … kind ...”   I Corinthians 13:4.

Mark 4:26-29 comes to mind, four short verses. The parable compares a man scattering seed. Life goes on and the seed sprouts and grows to maturity; there is a harvest. But 4 seemingly unimportant words jump out, “he knows not how”. 

My dreams would not lead me down this path … forest fire … Halloween shower … deepening  friendship with a neighbor. I wonder, where will it go from here?

In the Mark passage the seed progresses:                                                                         scatters,                                                                                                                                               sprouts,                                                                                                                                          grows,                                                                                                                                             ripens,                                                                                                                                         harvest.

On my street, my seed is somewhere between scatters and sprouting. I’m praying for growth, ripening, and harvest. I wonder what it will look like.

What about you … what ideas can you share about planting seeds among neighbors.

Happy Halloween!

“He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.”                                                                                                                  Mark 4:27