Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices

by Richelle Thompson on October 27, 2010

When he didn’t win the pumpkin contest, I felt the tears sting.

For most of Saturday, we worked on Cinderella’s coach, pulling the slime out of the pumpkin, carving windows, fashioning a door (that really opened!) and decorating the coach as befits a soon-to-be princess.   

My 6-year-old son was sure his creation would win the contest. So when it didn’t, he was crushed. And so was I. He was robbed. Hanging chads and ballot fraud.   

At home, I talked about how much fun we’d had creating the pumpkin. And I presented him with a dollar-store plastic trophy: the Bibbidi Bobbidi BOO pumpkin won first place in our house.
I think he saw through the ploy but took the trophy anyway. The next morning, I saw he’d climbed on top of a chair and on the tips of his toes, placed the trophy beside his other treasured keepsakes.   

Whenever I carve a pumpkin, I think of one of my favorite children’s sermons. The priest takes the pumpkin and carves it with the kids, talking about how God’s grace cleans – forgives – our sins. When we accept this grace, the light of Christ shines in and through us.   

It’s a simplistic metaphor. I know that. But sometimes it’s the simple things that tenderize our hearts and transform our lives.   

Hollow me out, O Lord.