many people have been asking me why we participate in halloween, but don't "do santa" in our home. i have just recently come to a place where i am able to verbalize what has been in my heart for a LONG time.
first of all, we all have different convictions. i believe that we DO NOT serve a cookie cutter God. i believe that He has made us all uniquely and wired us differently. i believe that He speaks to us and addresses our issues in different ways and in different times. that being said, the best way to evaluate if YOU or YOUR FAMILY should participate in an activity is to determine if that particular activity is drawing your heart AWAY from Christ.
For our family, dressing up in silly costumes and going door to door has (at least to this point) in no way drawn our hearts and focus off of Christ. with christmas, however, indulging our children's imagination with the fantasy of santa does draw their hearts away from christ and the purpose of this most precious season.
lance recently found an article that said SO BEAUTIFULLY how we intend to handle this "santa dilemma"... we don't want to wreck how other families choose to celebrate and we by no means judge them for it, but we have decided as a couple to "redeem santa" in our home rather than reject him or receive him. if you're interested in the last statement, read THIS article!
first of all, we all have different convictions. i believe that we DO NOT serve a cookie cutter God. i believe that He has made us all uniquely and wired us differently. i believe that He speaks to us and addresses our issues in different ways and in different times. that being said, the best way to evaluate if YOU or YOUR FAMILY should participate in an activity is to determine if that particular activity is drawing your heart AWAY from Christ.
For our family, dressing up in silly costumes and going door to door has (at least to this point) in no way drawn our hearts and focus off of Christ. with christmas, however, indulging our children's imagination with the fantasy of santa does draw their hearts away from christ and the purpose of this most precious season.
lance recently found an article that said SO BEAUTIFULLY how we intend to handle this "santa dilemma"... we don't want to wreck how other families choose to celebrate and we by no means judge them for it, but we have decided as a couple to "redeem santa" in our home rather than reject him or receive him. if you're interested in the last statement, read THIS article!
That's funny - Ben and I discussed that EXACT same article last week! Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your heart about the "Santa" dilema. The article is very good and it certainly helps me to better understand and appreciate your choice.......without making me feel that I did it all horribly wrong as a parent when raising L & K.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I read the same article last week too! Amazing stuff! It really helped us put into words what has been so heavy on our hearts! We look at every holiday as an opportunity to point others to Jesus!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the article! Casey and I had not yet discussed how we were going to handle Santa with Gabe, but I knew I wanted Jesus to be the focus for Christmas and not anticipating what Santa might bring. This article was exactly what I had in mind and it provided so much more detail about St. Nicholas than I ever knew. Casey's comment was, "Don't you think Saint Nicholas would be disgusted that he's the focus of Christmas for some when everything he did he did because he wanted people to know Jesus?" And, Mark Driscoll has some awesome sermons we've been listening to since August titled "The Peasant Princess". It's an excellent series on marriage and relationships and it's made for great discussion between Casey and I about our relationship and our relationship with God. I recommend it, if you haven't already listened to them. You can download his podcasts for free on iTunes.
ReplyDeleteAnd, now this is becoming the longest comment ever, but I have to say one more thing about your post a couple of days ago...
I read your every blog post and I very much enjoy seeing what's going on with the kids, activities you do with them and how God's working in your life. I love everything you share, so I say keep the variety!