If you would like to read my reflection for today's scripture reading, please scroll down to Wednesday, October 17th. I wrote about Numbers way back then, when I was all confused. The book of Numbers gets its name from all of the census taking and number counting of the different tribes of God. Since it's Halloween, I was thinking back to when I was a kid, and for some weird reason, we used to count how many trick-or-treaters we would have each year. We would get excited when the numbers were up, puzzled when the numbers were down. Eventually, the numbers went way down, to almost nothing. I think new alternatives to going door to door started up to make things safer for kids. For instance, Zoo Boo. I went for the first time this year and it was great fun to see kids dressed up in all sorts of fun costumes! My first year of owning a home, I moved in on Halloween. I was so excited to have trick-or-treaters come to my very own home, that I went out and bought a bunch of candy, and I only had two people come to my door dressed up - my mom and my sister. No kids. Not much trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. The book of Numbers for my home wouldn't take very long to write, and the counting would be easy. One, two, the end.
What is it about numbers? Why do we count - people, money, worship attenders, trick-or-treaters, members of our family? Perhaps because all of the numbers we count represent stories that have meaning for us. 150 trick-or-treaters represent the story of the year we ran out of candy, it represents the cats, ghosts, supermans, and smurfs that stopped by the house on one night. Counting family numbers tells the story of generations, of who we come from, which is always a part of who we are.
Happy Halloween, and happy number counting/reading over the course of the rest of this week in Numbers~
-Melanie
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
So... this is in no way a profound comment on Numbers... but it's a Halloween story... Last night we had a handful of kids at our door, before we had to leave and go to choir practice... (Boo Bob!!!;) just kidding!) Anyway, Jeff went to the door and this little kid had some kind of superhero costume on... Jeff was looking at it and thinking...hmm... superman? batman? it didn't appear to be any one recognizable, so he asked the kid..."So, who are you?" and the kid answered: "DJ"... ??? Duh! It's his name!!! I just howled when I heard that... But it does have some spiritual application, when you think about it.. No matter what "costume" we put on on Sunday morning, or Sunday night, we are still ourselves... inside...
Blessings, and happy All Saints Day!
So I counted - we had 10 kids stop by for candy last night. They were great costumes. I couldn't figure out what this one little boy was - and I asked, and he said, "I'm the Vatican." WHAT? "I'm the Vatican."
Rarely do you see inanimate objects as costumes! He had a big styrofoam dome on his head, painted gray and gold. It was quite creative and funny to think that this little boy somehow got it into his head to dress up as a church.
-Melanie
Post a Comment