Halloween, in my neck of the woods, seems to be pretty popular.  I live in a small town (one of the first in Minnesota) which claims to be the Halloween Capital of the world.   I’m not a fan of ghosts and goblins, nor do I condone the practice of witchcraft, but I happen to have a plethora of costumes from my past, that beckoned to be displayed for one last time this year.  The result is my whimsical rendition of Halloween.

Parades will be held this week, people will dress in silly costumes and kids will go begging at their neighbors’ doors.  It doesn’t have to be a celebration of darkness or evil, but it’s funny how this particular holiday has ballooned into a multi-million dollar business.  Last year was the first Halloween in our new “old” house and we had one trick or treater – go figure.

Our perspective on things changes as we grow older.  Last week I had had it up to my ears with all the fuss over taking a knee during the singing of the National Anthem. I posted my dissatisfaction over it on Facebook and was immediately inundated with comments about broken or replacing body parts.  It seems most of my friends are pretty much the same age as me, and they assumed I was referring to a knee replacement when I made the post.

When we’re young, we’re always looking forward.  When we’re old, we tend tolook back.  When we’re somewhere in the middle, we simply try to maintain a steady path, which is usually impossible with all the cares of daily living.

If we dwell on the negative things in life, we can be sure that our futures are not going to be filled with joy and happiness.  Somehow how we view things changes as we pass through the decades of living.  What we used to laugh at is no longer funny.  What we used to find pleasure in, is impossible for us to do.  We grow to rely on others for help and that’s a blow to our self-sufficiency as well.

In other words, aging is the pits.  We could look at it in that way and let it eat away at us, diminish us, destroy our zest for living – or we can change the way we do things, ask for help and accept this as part of who we are now.  We don’t have to give up.  God continues to walk with us until the end of our journey, and when that is done, we have the honor of meeting Him face to face.  While we are still on this side of eternity, we just need to change our perspective.