My favorite part of Halloween is the family traditions- we always go trick or treating with cousins and we always have soup and chili. The kids always sort out their candy and trade with each other and we always have fake eye ball ping pong balls in our drinks:) That is what makes life good.
This week I wanted to take some time and tell you about 3 instances where I see the spirit directing me and influencing me in my life. I do not believe in coincidences:
After trick or treating and visiting-everyone eventually started to gather their things and head home. Chrissy and her kids were the last to leave. They happened to be there during our scripture reading and for prayer, It was livy's turn to say prayer and I asked her who she would like to help her say it...mom or dad? She said she wanted Chrissy to help her (she calls Chrissy "kissy" and absolutely adores her) I haven't heard Chrissy say a prayer since she was little and expected her to push the responsibility back onto Dan or I.
When that didn't come, I glanced over at her-I saw the delema of feeling uncomfortable saying it/but loving Livy so much that she was willing to say OK and help her. My heart filled as I saw her wrap her arms around Livy, bow her head and close her eyes. And I felt the spirit fill the room as she whispered a prayer in Livy's ear. She prayed about family, kindness, and love. She prayed a prayer of gratitude. I am grateful for those kinds of moments.
Another important and valuable lesson we learned this Halloween:
When Dan and I were out food shopping, Chrissy brought over the movie Hocus Pocus. I remember seeing it as a kid and being a little scared and weirded out by parts of it. I have always been sensitive to the spirit of things when it comes to movies or TV....Even when some are just meant to be humorous or entertaining, I feel the darkness in it. Anyway, it is definitely not one that I would let my kids watch- especially at this age.
When Dan and I were out food shopping, Chrissy brought over the movie Hocus Pocus. I remember seeing it as a kid and being a little scared and weirded out by parts of it. I have always been sensitive to the spirit of things when it comes to movies or TV....Even when some are just meant to be humorous or entertaining, I feel the darkness in it. Anyway, it is definitely not one that I would let my kids watch- especially at this age.
Well, after talking to Chrissy and explaining why I didn't feel it was a good choice (sucking souls out of people, raising bodies from the dead, sexual implications by the witches, etc.) she felt bad about it. The damage had already been done though-and we had a talk with the kids about watching things and taking part in things that uplift us and help us to feel good inside instead of watching things that make us confused, scared, or feel uncomfortable inside. We talked about the fact that sometimes Dad and Mom won't be around to tell them to shut it off or watch something else, and they need to be able to make the choice themselves by how they feel.
As a consequence Katie learned the hard way about it-she had bad dreams and a hard time going to sleep at night because of the images she saw from the movie....she said to us "I know that witches aren't real but the pictures are stuck in my head and I feel bad inside."
We would say prayers with her when she felt this way to help her feel at peace and be able to calm down-think of good things-so she could go to sleep. And we talked about singing church songs to help focus on feeling better. She would be able to fall asleep afterward as we showed her ways to invite the spirit and ask for help from Heavenly Father. We also made sure to point out in the morning that our prayer was answered/and that the feelings that replace the yucky ones were given by the Holy Ghost. I hope and pray that these types of experiences and lessons will help them in the future and am grateful for the simple yet grand miracle this was to a little girl.
