Comprehending the Love of God: Seeing His Heart Reflected Through Family, Marriage, and Parenthood

Every October, it seems like Christian parents start asking the same question: What do we do with Halloween? Do we trick-or-treat? Do we dress up? Are pumpkins okay? What about witches, ghosts, skeletons, haunted houses, and all the darker things that seem to come with this time of year? As a first-time mom, this is one of those things I’m realizing I actually have to think through now. Before having a child, Halloween was just Halloween. I didn’t spend nearly as much time thinking about what we would participate in, what we wouldn’t, or how we would explain those decisions. But becoming a parent has made me look at a lot of things differently. Now I find myself thinking less about what I am comfortable with and more about what I want my daughter to grow up understanding. What do I want her to associate with this season? What do I want to teach her about things that are dark or scary? And how do I teach her to recognize what honors God without making her afraid of the world around her? I also know that faithful Christian families land in different places here. Some families don’t participate in Halloween at all. Some go to a church harvest festival. Some let their children dress up and trick-or-treat but stay away from the darker parts of the holiday. I don’t think the answer necessarily has to look exactly the same in every Christian home. But I do think we should be intentional. Instead of simply asking, “Can Christians celebrate Halloween?” maybe a better question is: How can we enjoy the good and beautiful parts of this season without letting the culture around us decide what our family celebrates? That’s the question I’m trying to think through for my own family. 1. We Don't Have to Be Afraid of the Dark One thing I know I don't want to teach my daughter is that Christians should be afraid of darkness. There is plenty about Halloween that intentionally tries to make darkness feel powerful—ghosts, demons, witches, death, fear, and all kinds of scary imagery. But that isn't the story Scripture tells us. John 1:5 says: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” I love that verse, especially as a parent. I want my daughter to know that evil is real, but I don't want her growing up thinking Christians need to be terrified of it. I want her to know that Jesus is greater. There is a difference between telling our children, “Stay away from that because it's scary,” and teaching them, “We don't celebrate that because we belong to Jesus.” One comes from fear. The other comes from knowing who we belong to. As I think through how we'll handle Halloween as she gets older, that's the foundation I want to come back to: we don't have to fear the darkness because we know the Light. 2. Not Everything About October Belongs to Halloween This might be one of my favorite things I've realized while thinking about all of this: Halloween doesn't own October. Pumpkins, apples, changing leaves, crisp mornings, pumpkin patches, hayrides, bonfires, harvests, and evenings outside with family are all part of God's creation. Sometimes, especially as Christians, we can become so focused on avoiding what is wrong that we accidentally miss everything beautiful that God has given us to enjoy. And there is so much beauty in fall. I want my daughter to grow up going to pumpkin patches, playing in leaves, baking fall treats with me, spending time outside, and noticing the changing seasons. Even something as simple as a pumpkin can become an opportunity to point her back to God. A pumpkin doesn't belong to Halloween. It belongs to God. He made the seed, the soil, the rain, the sunshine, and the harvest. I love thinking about it that way. The world doesn't get to claim something God created just because it has become associated with a holiday. We can enjoy the season and still be thoughtful about what we choose to celebrate within it. 3. We Can Make Different Choices Without Condemning Each Other This is another part of the conversation that can get complicated quickly because Christians have some very strong opinions about Halloween. There are families who feel very convicted not to participate at all. There are other families who see no problem with letting their children dress like a princess or superhero and walk around the neighborhood collecting candy. I don't think my role is to tell every Christian family exactly where that line should be, especially because I'm still figuring out where some of those lines will be in our own home. What I do think matters is that we're actually thinking about them. Are we doing something simply because everyone else does it? Does anything we're participating in celebrate something Scripture tells us to stay away from? What are our children learning from it? Can we participate with a clear conscience before God? Those are the kinds of questions I want to keep asking as my daughter gets older. Romans 14 also reminds me that Christians can have different convictions about disputable matters while still seeking to honor the Lord. So maybe one family trick-or-treats, another goes to a church fall festival, and another orders pizza, stays home, and has a family movie night. I don't think our goal should be making every Christian family look identical. Our goal should be raising children who know how to follow Jesus even when the culture around them is doing something different. 4. I Want to Explain Our “No's” This is probably something I'm going to have to learn as a mom over and over again. I don't want my daughter to grow up hearing only, No. We don't do that. That's bad. Christians don't do that. I want her to understand why. Of course, when she's very little, those explanations will be simple. Maybe it's, “We aren't afraid of witches. We just don't celebrate witchcraft.” Or, “We don't need scary things to have fun.” Or simply, “We don't celebrate evil because we belong to Jesus.” I don't want to make darkness fascinating by constantly talking about it, and I don't want to make it terrifying either. I just want to calmly teach her, little by little, that our family doesn't have to participate in everything the world celebrates. As she gets older, those conversations can get deeper. Ultimately, I don't just want to raise a child who knows our family's rules. I want to raise a child who eventually knows how to discern for herself what honors God and what doesn't. 5. Use the Season to Talk About Light This may be the part of the season I love most because light and darkness are concepts even really little children can understand. You can actually show them. Turn off the lights in a room and let it get completely dark. Then turn on one little light. Everything changes. That simple picture makes John 1:5 feel so tangible: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It’s also one reason I love having the Iam the Lamb® Night Light in a child’s room. It’s practical, of course, but I love that it can also become a visual reminder of something much bigger. At bedtime, when the room is dark and that little lamb light is glowing, it creates such a natural opening to talk about Jesus as the Light and to remind our children that darkness is never stronger than Him. This month, we're also offering a free Iam the Lamb® Night Light with any purchase of $49 or more through October 31. If you’re already shopping for Christmas gifts, books, or something meaningful for a little one, you can add the Night Light to your cart and the discount will be applied automatically. More than anything, though, I love the idea of using something so simple in an everyday routine to reinforce truth. Jesus tells His followers: “You are the light of the world.” — Matthew 5:14 And a few verses later: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16 As my daughter grows, I want to use moments like that to explain what it actually means to shine the light of Jesus. It can look like telling the truth, being kind to someone who feels left out, forgiving, helping, sharing, praying for someone, or choosing what is right even when other people aren't. One little light really does make a difference. And especially during a season when there is so much imagery surrounding darkness, what a beautiful opportunity we have to point our children to the Light instead. So, Can Christians Celebrate Halloween? This is one of those parenting questions I'm going to keep working through as my daughter gets older. I don't think we have to have every answer figured out immediately. And I don't think there is one answer that every Christian family has to follow. Scripture gives us clear boundaries around evil, but Christian families may come to different convictions about things like costumes and trick-or-treating. What matters is that we make those choices prayerfully and intentionally, with our focus on honoring Christ. I want my family to be thoughtful about what we celebrate. I want us to enjoy what is good, be willing to say no to what isn't, and make those decisions from conviction rather than fear. So go to the pumpkin patch. Bake the pumpkin bread. Enjoy the cool weather. Dress up in a fun costume if that's something your family feels comfortable with. Or choose not to participate in Halloween at all. Whatever your family decides, I think the bigger opportunity is to use these moments to help our children learn something they will need for the rest of their lives: how to live in the world without simply following everything the world does, how to recognize darkness without being afraid of it, and how to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus. I'm still learning what all of that looks like as a first time mom. But this is one truth I know I can keep coming back to: We don't need to fear the darkness. We don't need to imitate it either. We can simply shine the Light. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” — John 1:5 At Iam the Lamb®, our heart has always been to help plant little seeds of faith in the everyday moments of childhood. And I'm learning as a mom that sometimes those moments aren't the big, perfectly planned Bible lessons. Sometimes they're conversations in the car, a question at the store, a pumpkin on the front porch, or one little light glowing in a dark room. And maybe those ordinary moments are some of the best opportunities we have to point our children back to Jesus.