Comstock Chronicles: Scary Decorations

My kids and I paused on our walk to school to gawk at the latest Halloween decorations. One house has put up a life-sized werewolf on its roof and two twelve-feet-tall skeletons on its lawn.

An older couple passed by us, and the children began chatting with them about the decorations. Lee told them he thought the skeletons were Goliath. 

"As in David and Goliath?" the lady asked.

"Yes," Lee replied.

"Goliath didn't last long against David. Did he?" the lady said.

As we continued our walk, Lee said, "Mommy, those people were worshipers of God. Weren't they? They knew about David and Goliath."

"It sounded like it," I replied and chuckled to myself about the unique way Lee had said that. He didn't ask if they were Christians. He asked if they were worshipers of God.

I believe he's picked up this terminology from his Bible and Drama cassette tapes that Grandma and Grandpa gave us. In those stories there are two kinds of people: those who worship God and those who worship false gods. There are no atheists.

It reminds me of Family Camp at Forest Home when Erik Thoennes said sin was a worship problem. When our lives are not filled with the outpouring of gratitude that results from the constant reminder of what God has done for us, we find something else to fill our lives. When the flower garden isn't jam packed with good plants, the weeds have a place to come up.

We're either actively worshiping God, or actively worshiping false gods. There is no middle ground. 

Either I am waking up my children each day for school because I am driven by this urgency to get on with it and earn my own victory here on earth; Or I am waking my children up each day eager for what the Lord will do in them and me. What joys? What gifts? What graces?

Either I am cleaning the house determined to prove I am good and able and successful; Or I am cleaning this house because I am delighted with this strength and the fact that I get to have this place despite my having done nothing to deserve it.

Either I am planning a vacation out of desperation to get us some rest and find peace; Or I am planning a vacation because I know I can rest even while planning. That rest is something offered to me everyday.