From Scared to Death to Scared to Life

Call me a buzzkill, but there are few things I like about Halloween. My list is short:

• little bite-sized candy bars (ok, full size too…)
• little stinkers in adorable costumes
• little orange and white pumpkins

I think there’s a pattern to my list. Unlike Halloween, where the bigger the scare, the better.

Having grown up as a somewhat fearful child, purposely trying to be scared to death is not my idea of fun. I’d much rather shift from scared to death to scared to life. Those of you who get off on a hair-raising good fright, go for it. I’ll just savor my Reese’s, thank you.

On a deeper note, being scared to death through a number of defining occasions eventually brought me to a crossroads of decision. The same decision Moses laid out to the children of Israel:

Look, I’ve given you two choices today: you can have life with all the
good things it brings, or death and all the bad things it brings.
Deuteronomy 30:15 – The Voice

Talk about a decisive choice over how to grow a life.

Scared to Life

When the legitimacy of that scripture for my own life made its impact, the resounding thud delivered the understanding that the choice was mine. Two clear options from God, spoken through Moses’ mouth.

I faced continuing this-a-way, the familiar scared to death responses to fears in my life. Or, the option of that-a-way, which though less familiar, held out promise of life and good instead of death and destruction.

To be frank, I’d been entertaining death in all sorts of ways. Learning from those death lessons fuels in part my passion as a life coach, counselor, and being Nancy. A day came when I decided to fully choose life. And I continue to do so, because choosing life is not a one-time event.

If we’re honest, “Look, I’ve given you two choices today…” is still operative and applicable on a daily basis. Especially when we notice death responses threatening to climb out from six feet under.

For me, eliminating dark icons from my October, and especially from Halloween, is just one of a multitude of ways I outwardly testify to an internal decision to choose life and God’s promised good.

For you, it may be something entirely different that represents ‘two choices today’ between life and death.

• How or when have you entertained death in emotion, thought, or deed (activity)?
• What good things can you recount as a result of the times you have chosen life?
• Personally, what does it look like to outwardly testify to an internal decision to choose life?

However you answer these questions, my prayer for you this season is that you will take another step from scared to death to scared to life. Life brings good things with it. God promised, and He does not renege on His promises!

~ Nancy

P.S. Ring my doorbell here to be greeted with a basketful of life – and maybe some death by chocolate, with a hint of peanut butter 🙂

Photo Credit: Title photo SHTTEFAN on Unsplash; Reeses hersheys.com; video still from Costomize; pumpkins free image