Go Get Your Lollipop and Bubble Gum!

It was so much fun dressing us last night, as it always is, and I think what I enjoyed most was watching the little ones come up the driveway after they got first glance of me and my painted face. And...as usual...that got me thinking. All of those little kids approached me in a different way and it made me think about how differently we all approach LIFE.

Life is an adventure and with an adventure comes uncertainty, excitement, trials, laughter, fear, sorrow, and of course HOPE.  How do you approach your adventure known as Life?...

Let's pretend that me in my costume last night represents life. I was sort of scary looking with the black eyes, spider webs on my face, and black finger nails but yet I also had on bright colored face paint, a big flower in my hair, shiny jewelry and a bright multi colored skirt. Besides that, I made sure I talked in my very high pitched, friendly, Libby voice. :) One part of me was scary but one part of me was not. Now let's pretend that the trick-or-treaters (around the ages of 3yrs to 6yrs old) represent all of us trying to get through life.

You deserve the sweet
things in life!

 The kids were uncertain of me because they did not really know what to expect. However, they did know that their final reward for coming up that driveway was a handful of lollipops and bubble gum.

It was fun watching the different type of trick-or-treaters and some of them were very hesitant. Those kids would walk half way up the driveway....stop... and then decide that they would give me a chance. Some kids were so excited and curious as to what I had on my face and what kind of candy I was giving out that they just ran right up the driveway, smiled, and held out their bag. Other kids would stand at the end of the drive and wouldn't walk up until they looked at their little friends walking up.  Once they got a little encouragement they finally decided to give it a try too and were so glad that they did. And finally, there were the kids that just saw me as plain scary and didn't see the nice attributes of the costume or the candy, and even my voice was of no comfort to them. They were scared to death....they wanted nothing to do with me...and so they missed out on their handful of lollipops and bubble gum. :(

We are just like those trick or treaters! We all approach life in different ways. Some of us are very hesitant about things and live a good life but maybe we could live a fuller life. Some of us are not scared of anything and feel that life has so much to offer that we grab life by the horns and head up the drive full throttle. Others of us need some guidance and small pushes to get us through. And finally there are those of us that are just scared to death of life. The fear overcomes us so much that we can only see the scary things and not the beauty in it. We cannot even hear the friendly voice of God telling us that everything is going to be alright and because of that we miss out on the sweet things that life has to offer us. (If anyone is wondering, I wish I was a grab life by the horns type of person but I am not. I need to learn from God and others to help get me through life. I need to be pushed from time to time and I'm OK with that. We are all made differently.)

My HOPE is for God to bring peace for all of you out there that are scared to death of Life right now. Maybe you always have been or maybe something has happened recently to make you want to pull the covers over your head. God has a plan for you and that plan is for you to trust Him more. Talk to him about your fears and your worries and ask Him to take them away. God wants us to enjoy this life He gave us. Will there be hard times? Definitely. Is life perfect? Absolutely not. Will we get hurt sometimes? That is a given. But we need to have enough faith in Him that He will get us through it ALL. One of my favorite quotes is "If God brings you to it...He will bring you through it." and let me tell ya...I have lived that promise more than once in my life!  God tells each and every one of us...."I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  When you put your full trust in Him you will not only receive the sweet rewards that this life has to offer but the greatest reward of life everlasting.



God gives us HOPE when there seems to be none. ~ Your friend, Lib