We have a
long standing tradition at Bella Promessa (the Inman house), which goes back to
the days when our kids were very young. I was looking for a fun way to
illustrate our faith to the kids in a way they could easily understand. When I
stumbled across this idea, I latched on to it with great passion. What emerged
was a tradition our young adult kids still enjoy to this day, and I suspect
they will take this idea with them into their own families in the future. And all you need is a carving pumpkin or two.
I always
take the pumpkin and do the following presentation:
"Okay,
kids? What does this pumpkin represent?"
"Our
hearts!" they chime in unison.
"And
what is in our hearts?"
"Sin!"
We go
through the process of opening the pumpkin and scraping out the pulp and seeds.
"What does all of this yucky stuff represent?"
"Sin!"
We then
carve a cross into the pumpkin. "What does this represent?"
"Jesus
coming into our hearts and cleaning out our sin."
We now place
a candle into the pumpkin and light it. The message is not missed by anyone.
Jesus takes our yucky, sin filled hearts, cleans them out, and places His light
in our hearts.
And that's
it. Nothing more is required. Ceremony complete. Now comes one of my favorite
parts: roasting the seeds and snaking on them over the next few days!
So, we also
let the kids have one pumpkin each so they can carve whatever they want. Caitie
usually does a fun face, while Seth does something scary. This year he creeped
us out with a Minecraft carving.
This year we tried cutting the tops of our pumpkins a little differently. This method made cleaning the pumpkin much easier.
And, the finished product!
