Halloween is here.  And while I won't be sporting Dracula teeth or a witch cape I will celebrate with pumpkins.  Pumpkins are bright, round and cheery-especially the ones with  big jagged smiles.

I must tell you that I don't carve pumpkins anymore. They're a huge mess. If you've ever been a part of pumpkin carving, you know what I mean.

You cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin; which is no easy task.  Then comes the fun. Everybody gathers around to stick their hand in a hole which barely has room for one hand. You scoop out sticky, smelly pumpkin pulp. The stringy pulp and seeds continue to appear as clowns unloading from a small car. You can't imagine how it all fit inside.

I personally am ready to quit after pumpkin guts have been accidentally dropped on my leg or when my hands are covered in the sticky, stinky goo.  But really, this is when the "Pumpkin Project" has really just begun.

After your pumpkin has been emptied of itself, it's ready to get its face or design.

I like the idea of giving your pumpkin a new face , but it's not as easy as it sounds.  I've carved a few pumpkins and the result is a crooked smile and uneven eyes. I also dislike the fact that your pretty pumpkin doesn't keep its beauty; it begins to shrivel after time.

If you come to my house this year you won't find a carved pumpkin.  You'll find a pumpkin with its belly still full of that sticky goo.  I'm leaving the pumpkins guts inside.

Me + Dealing with Pumpkin insides=MESS

The last few years I took to gluing eyes and accessories on my pumpkin.  This year I bought spray paint and sequins.  I think other people have same idea.

You may choose to leave your pumpkin as it is; a faceless pumpkin can still be used as a  decoration.

I'm no artist, so enough about round cheery pumpkin decoration, I want to talk about you.

You my dear are a pumpkin; bright and beautiful.  But truth be told, you like every other pumpkin, are filled with goo.  Jealousy, fear, dishonesty and all kinds of sticky sin is inside you.  You and the people who love you can try to rid you of your "mess" but really there's only one who can remove the sin inside.  You know his name. When I clean out a real pumpkin, the mess is all around me and usually stuck on me.  When Jesus removes your sin, (as you trust in him), it's gone.  There's no trace of it.

He's also the master artist. He had in mind what your new "face" would look like since the beginning of time.  He patiently awaits the time where you invite him in your heart.  He's also anxious to do some decorating.  He wants you to look like him and be the "face of Christ" to the world around you.  That can be hard.

But he never asks us to live for him on our own.

What goes inside a completed pumpkin?  That's right.  Light.  God places his light inside of us.

God is in the business of making masterpieces.  With God's handiwork, the goo is gone, we have a new fresh face and we have God's light in our heart; a light that is meant to shine- not only on Halloween but every day.

Go on and get messy with your pumpkins.  Carve  or decorate to your heart's delight.  But remember, we're all amateurs.  Leave the real "pumpkin project" to Jesus.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”

made his light shine in our hearts

to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory

 displayed in the face of Christ.

 -2 Corinthians 4:6

(I heard an illustration similar to this years ago.  I couldn't find it, so I put it in my own words.  Is that plagiarizing?  Hope not.)

 Discussion questions:

What would be a creative way to decorate a pumpkin?

How can the insides of a pumpkin be compared to our hearts?

How can carving (or decorating)  be compared to a person when they become a christian?

Who can rid us of our sin/ give us a new face?

What does verse 6 and 7 mean when it talks about "shining our light"?

If you have pictures of your decorated pumpkins and would like to share, or if you'd simply like to chat, email me

- kristiburden@gmail.com