The Great Pumpkin

It’s almost time once again for the world to celebrate Halloween.

In a popular Charles Shultz cartoon, on Halloween Linus sat in a pumpkin patch all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin. According to Linus, the Great Pumpkin would come to the great pumpkin patch and leave toys for all the boys and girls.

Isn’t Linus like a lot of us? Don’t we sometimes put our faith in our own great pumpkins? Don’t we hope for great pumpkins? A better career? A nicer house? A bigger paycheck? Our wayward child to get off drugs and come home?

I remember a time when my finances were in the toilet. My job was boring. My car needed major repairs. I was driving down the road crying and literally yelling at God.

“God, I go to church, I sing in the choir, I teach Sunday School. When is my life going to get better? When will You get me out of this mess I’m in?”

I was looking for a great pumpkin that would never show up.

God used that desperate season in my life to teach me lessons about trusting Him and not my circumstances. I wanted my circumstances to improve. God wanted my trust in Him to improve.

He won. Praise God. Doesn’t He always?

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;He’s the one who will keep you on track.
Proverbs 3:5-6. The Message

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 NIV