“Honor and enjoy your Creator while you’re still young, before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes, before your vision dims and the world blurs and the winter years keep you close to the fire. In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on the world. You can’t come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. you are wakened now by bird-song. Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors. Your hair turns apple-blossom white, adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body. Yes, you’re well on your way to eternal rest, while your friends make plans for your funeral.” (Ecclesiastes 12:3-5 The Message Bible)
Dusk time had passed, the sun had set, and darkness had just clocked in for its night long shift. The doorbell was dinging, the ringing from young children in s variety of costumes. Accompanied by their young parents or adults who could be seen as I peered out of the closed blinds of an upstairs room. My porch light was out. The lights over the garage were tuned off. And I’ll be honest, I ignored the Halloween visitors. I felt somewhat contradictory, for when I was a kid, we went out on October 31, but we were soldiers wearing our father’s WWII jacket, donned as supermen or superwomen with a red kid’s blanket positioned to stay put in the back of our coats, or in another go-to costume, mom or dad’s old clothes. In my time, it was not really a fright night in our neighborhood. But as an adult, I see outfits that are too attached to an evil representation.
For several years, I have stayed away from the Halloween activities, with the exception of dressing as a football player or letterman at work for costumer competition sponsored at work. Production at our facility was down on that day, but the workers had fun. Oh, we had our rules for what was acceptable and what was not allowed. And if the rule was broken, we had work pants and shirts that could be donned in place of costumers that lack good taste or were too alluring. Let’s get back to yesterday.
As the doorbell continued to interrupt my peace, I came up with an idea that I might try to remember next year. You want to hear my idea? You just said, “Yes,” I’m certain. Nex year, I will have some small amounts of healthy treats for the children who come to my door, and on top of that, I will give them an envelope for them to present to their parents. I will write a message on the front of the envelope that reads, “Surprise, just for your family! Don’t open until you get home. When you get home, share what is enclosed with your children and others in the house. Gather them together like you do on Christmas morning.” Once they open it, probably anticipating they would find money, discover a gift card inside, or find a scan code to purchase something. Some would speculate that the envelop contained a church invitation or Christian tract. Actually, both those evangelistic ploys would work. However, I will just enclose copy of Ecclesiastes 12 in its entirety for them to read in a contemporary version, such as The Message Bible. I will underline or highlight portions of it with the extracts from this passage, the one you see in today’s opening and closing verses.
And as the trick or treaters would walk away, I would pray that what they will read would sink in, send them on a quest to know God better, and perhaps save someone in the house. Now that is an incomparable treat, and no trick would be intended.
Like I said, I might try to remember this next year. Perhaps you will too. But then, why wait a year? Send a copy of this meditation to some folks electronically today, tomorrow, or some near, upcoming date. Just don’t procrastinate, hesitate, or pause so long that you will never remember to forward this on.
Let the Lord use you! Have a wonderful, warm day, as the colder season is upon us. Stay warm, from a bodily perspective and a spiritual perspective. Petition the Lord to set your soul on fire for the Lord and be a living witness! Be blessed!
“The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King