Boo!
It’s 2020.
For most of the population, I can think of nothing scarier on this Halloween. I venture to guess there will be many costumes dedicated to something related to this insane year. Miss Corona. A Karen. Hazmat suites. Trump. Biden. A boozed mother. To name a few possibilities.

Who would have though a number that means perfect vision would be a year of chaos, distortion, calamity, and division? F—2020 is the most popular new phrase to type or say. Most people have just given up. They expect the worst. I’m already seeing memes of what new disaster November will bring. From burning buses to alien invasion. There’s a meme going around depicting us being attacked by Christmas trees in December (although, I will admit to loving the Doctor Who reference).

I admit this year has been full of the unexpected in the worse way. Some have experienced this more than others.
Kind of like the past two days have been for South Carolina (and the rest of the southern states): the high winds of tropical storm Zeta past through early Thursday morning. We lost power. Some still had power. We thankfully have a gas water heater, so retained hot water. Some didn’t have water. Some lost trees. Some had trees fall on their house or car. Some actually had a tree fall on them. Some complained over not having internet. Some invited neighbors over for a hot cup of coffee and generated-power to charge dead phones.

A disaster affects us all differently and in different measures. But it still affects us all. It’s about perspective.

I can hear you now: “Here it comes. She’s going to just tell us to think positively AGAIN. Doesn’t Laura get sick of staying positive during the worst year on the face of this earth?!”
Short answer: no. I don’t tire of giving a positive spin when hope merely appears lost.

I’m an observer. It’s the writer in me, I guess. I’ve observed many negative leaning people during these bombarding events. They complain constantly. They’re afraid. They’re actually TERRIFIED.

I’m not talking about the people that’ve lost loved ones either. My immense love and prayers go out to each of you who have lost someone close to you. I’m not referring to you, because your strength is immeasurable.

I’m talking about the people that have no more to fear than what they hear on the news and concoct in their minds.
The mind is a scary scary place. I should know: I’ve created fictional serial killers & psychopaths in mine. Lol

Our minds can trick us into thinking a second shadow is there, when it’s not. Hype us into being afraid of a pain in our abdomen that could be cancer returning, when it’s only stress twisting our gut. Our mind can tell us a friend said something evil and hurtful with her tone, when she never meant anything with that innocent sentence. Our mind can wake us up with the thought “I wonder what disaster will happen to me today?” or “What joy can I bring out of this new day?”

I grew up hating Halloween. I know, I know. It’s a lot of people’s favorite holiday. But you have to understand that I wasn’t allowed to celebrate it. I never went trick or treating. I never dressed up as my favorite character. – Although, I did get to dress as Ruth in first grade. At the age of 13 my sister and I dressed up in anything exotic we had in our closets and danced around our house. When I was 15, I participated in my church’s “Judgement House,” which was fun in a sense. It’s an outreach program. I played a demon. I had fun scaring people. lol – But since my family didn’t eat chocolate and white sugar (long story), or celebrate because of religious reasons, the fun was lost to me. My husband was raised the same way (just add chocolate back into his life, hallelujah!).

As adults, we were continuing our parent’s tradition of not celebrating this holiday. Until I heard a message that twisted my mind into a new perspective. This article was written in 2014:

Actor Kirk Cameron is urging Christians to celebrate a holiday many fundamentalists shun: Halloween.

“Early on, Christians would dress up in costumes as the devil, ghosts, goblins and witches precisely to make the point that those things were defeated and overthrown by the resurrected Jesus Christ. The costumes poke fun at the fact that the devil and other evils were publicly humiliated by Christ at His resurrection.”
Cameron said the “real origins” of Halloween were related to All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve. According to anthropologists, the true origins of Halloween go back about 2,000 years to the Celtic holiday of Samhain, which celebrated the end of the harvest season. Ancient Celts believed the day marked the beginning of winter, a time of year when ghosts returned to earth to wreak havoc on their crops and possess the living. To combat this, the Celts would don animal heads and skins as part of their interaction with the spirit world. But Cameron claims Halloween is not about death, as often depicted these days, but about life, and he urges Christians to throw “the biggest party on your block” as a way to convert the masses. “Halloween gives you a great opportunity to show how Christians celebrate the day that death was defeated, and you can give them Gospel tracts and tell the story of how every ghost, goblin, witch and demon was trounced the day Jesus rose from the grave. Clearly no Christians ought to be glorifying death, because death was defeated, and that was the point of All Hallows Eve.”

Perspective.

I’m not scared of Halloween. I’m not letting the devil own a holiday like the old church used to believe. For the first time in my life, we’re going trick or treating today. I’m getting dressed up. Riker’s going full spider-man and gets to eat as much chocolate as his little self would like (within reason), and Andrew’s staying home to give out candy and Gospel tracks.

I’m not scared of 2020. Sure, it looks glum. Full or evil, darkness, and disaster. But I’m taking it back from the devil. He can’t have one single day, let alone a year. I’m choosing to have a new perspective.

I’m waking with a smile. I’m expecting blessings out of November. Not curses. There’s still time for this year to be the best yet. Oh yes, you heard me right. Two whole months. A lot can happen in two months. A pandemic could start. But healing can also take hold. Fires can be extinguished by a single rain storm. A year of poverty can become prosperity with a single job, sale, or gift. YOU have the power to turn this year around.

“And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly.” – 2 Chronicles 29:36

“Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.” – Matthew 15:28

So, what are you going to do with the next 2 months of your 2020? Are you going to see clearly? Or will you look through darkness? There’s a light at the end of this tunnel. God has great things in store, if we just choose to see it.