#35 - Holy Days or Holidays? (Discerning How to Celebrate in a Kingdom Way)

Happy Halloween! Here comes Santa! Do you want a picture with the Easter Bunny?

In this episode, I am diving into one of those topics that stirs up a lot of questions — and sometimes tension — among believers: how should we, as Kingdom mothers, approach holidays like Halloween, Christmas, and Easter?

This episode isn’t about creating division or pushing personal conviction. It’s about learning how to seek biblical discernment, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our families in truth and peace.

Transcript

10:42:19 Happy Halloween! Here comes Santa! Do you want to get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny?
10:42:25 Welcome back to Kingdom Mothers, where we talk about faith, family, and what it looks like to live intentionally, as women of God in every area of our life.
10:42:33 So that we can be empowered for battle, and anointed for victory.
10:42:37 Today, I want to dive into one of those topics that can stir up a lot of questions, and sometimes tensions among believers specifically.
10:42:46 And that question is, how should we, as Kingdom Mothers.
10:42:51 approach the leaders, like, Halloween. Christmas and Easter.
10:42:55 Before we dive into the meat of this episode, I just want to state that this episode really isn't about creating division or pushing my personal conviction. I am going to share.
10:43:04 some of the traditions, and in my convictions that I have, but to each their own.
10:43:10 What this episode is, the goal of this is really for you to learn how to seek biblical discernment for yourself.
10:43:15 Listen to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and your families in truth and grace.
10:43:34 Okay, so before we dive in, let's kick off this episode with prayer. Father, we just thank you so much for your discernment that we can seek you, that you do give us wisdom and knowledge in different areas of our lives so that we can.
10:43:47 walk in step with you, and in alignment with your truth, and your… divide design. We just ask that this episode bless us, and that you just.
10:43:56 let those listening just hear your voice, and let them just know and have peace of what they should do when it comes to holidays. I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
10:44:05 Alright, so the first scripture I want to dive off with, just to kind of set the tone, is Colossians.
10:44:12 216, and this says, Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink.
10:44:17 Or with regard to a religious festival, a new celebration or a Sabbath day.
10:44:24 So, I say this scripture just to remind us that.
10:44:28 God is not really concerned about our external traditions. He's more concerned about the posture of our hearts.
10:44:34 And so, asking the mothers, we must really just learn to tap in, tune in, discern.
10:44:42 what God is calling us to do? And not just follow culture blindly.
10:44:47 And also not judge others who are also on a journey of.
10:44:52 their faith and their luck, and God's gonna convict them at different times in different ways.
10:44:57 So this is really to help bring you clarity, to understand what is important to your family.
10:45:05 How, if you're having questions around celebrating Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny, or Halloween, how do you… Is it… is it okay? Like, those are some questions I've been asking, like, is this okay for me to do? How do I celebrate traditions?
10:45:19 Do I need to be raising my son up in a different way than how I was raised?
10:45:23 And for me, a lot of the times, the answers have been yes.
10:45:26 But I want to give you three questions. To help you just start getting into that space of discernment with the Lord and starting to hear what He has to say.
10:45:36 So, question number one is, what's the spiritual route or origin of the celebration? So this question has been really helpful for me to be like, okay, is this… What is the root of this? And does this come from a…
10:45:51 God-honoring root, does it come from a dark root, or is it of the light? Like, what… what is the foundation?
10:45:59 of the celebration. So really just educating yourself. The second question is, is it burying fruit of righteousness in my home? If we truly want to be keen to mothers, then I think.
10:46:11 we should be making decisions based on. understanding and researching.
10:46:19 And also, like, what is the fruit? The Bible says, test the spirit.
10:46:23 So what is the fruit we're going to see? Are we gonna see more life? Are we gonna see more light?
10:46:29 Are we gonna see more righteousness? And then third question you can ask yourself, is this drawing my family closer to Jesus, or closer to the world? So, as you're trying to discern what is the right step for me and my.
10:46:44 holiday traditions, what do I keep, what do I leave out?
10:46:48 what does it look like for me as a Kingdom Mother to steward my family and our traditions?
10:46:53 These are 3 great questions to start with. So, again, what's the spiritual root or origin of the celebration or tradition?
10:47:01 Is it bearing fruit of righteousness in my home?
10:47:03 And lastly, is this drawing my family closer to Jesus, or closer to the world?
10:47:09 Now, let's dive specifically into Halloween. Is this just darkness, or can this be actually an opportunity?
10:47:19 So, Halloween often raises the biggest debate among Christians, and honestly, the truth is, its origins are rooted in paganism and its celebration of death.
10:47:28 So, something Scripture clearly warns us against participating in.
10:47:34 But I want to encourage you, instead of responding in fear or legalism when you're deciding how to participate in the holiday of Halloween.
10:47:42 You can ask yourself, how can I model. Light in the midst of darkness.
10:47:47 And how can this be an opportunity for evangelism or community connection?
10:47:52 So, for some families. This means skipping Halloween altogether. For others, it may look like hosting a light night. I have some friends who do that.
10:48:02 Um, where you serve neighbors, um, you could also just be intentional with conversations about good and evil. So there's a lot of things that you can do.
10:48:11 While still anticipating, but in a way that's actually going to be God-honoring, that's going to spread light.
10:48:17 into the darkness that's going to… Allow people to encounter Jesus. So, the key is not really the activity itself, but it's the spirit behind it.
10:48:27 For me and my family, my son's only 5, and.
10:48:31 I've been convicted to not participate in Halloween. the last couple years, um, this is the first year we're actually not doing any sort of Halloween traditions, like trick-or-treating or handing out.
10:48:45 treats. And part of that's because we live in the country now, so we don't really have people coming to trick-or-treat, we're not in the suburbs anymore.
10:48:53 Um, my husband's working that night anyway, so… This year for us, it's gonna probably look like my son and I going up to my parents and just kind of having some family time, fall activities.
10:49:05 Um, I'm really just leaning into that. Now, as my son grows, and he has friends, and, you know, those… conversations come up on, like, can I participate in this?
10:49:17 I will have to, like, prayerfully consider what that looks like. As of right now, my personal stance is.
10:49:24 To not participate in… And, like, dressing up, um… necessarily handing out candy.
10:49:33 But I think if my son does want to participate.
10:49:38 I… we're gonna do something as he grows. to shine the light of Jesus. So, I don't know what that looks like yet, but this is just what… where I'm at on my journey.
10:49:47 So that's why I'm saying, like, for these types of… holiday traditions, really, we need to be seeking first the kingdom of God.
10:49:56 And if we want to partner with God in this.
10:49:59 Shine a light, then asking those questions, how can we model light in the midst of darkness?
10:50:04 And can this actually be an opportunity for evangelism or community connection? So I could definitely see us hosting, like, a fall fun night.
10:50:12 Like, maybe a bonfire, where we do a cookout, you know, some fun activities.
10:50:18 So, that's kind of how I'm envisioning celebrating, really, like, making it more about connection with the community.
10:50:24 Um, versus celebrating death, and… you know, darkness.
10:50:29 All right, let's talk about Christmas and Easter. So, both Christmas and Easter.
10:50:34 Definitely have deep Christian significance, but we see culture has totally twisted them into these commercial holidays.
10:50:42 And I feel like it's just become so focused on materialism, on entertainment, and it's just become a distraction from.
10:50:49 We're not even thinking of why we even celebrate these.
10:50:52 holidays altogether. For Christmas, Christmas is about Emmanuel, God with us, us receiving the gift of Jesus, and Easter is about the resurrection power, so Christ in us.
10:51:04 And I've just been really convicted personally about these.
10:51:08 to really come back into alignment with what is the true reason for these.
10:51:13 holiday seasons. And when we kind of step back, we strip away the noise.
10:51:19 These are moments that we can actually center our homes on worship and gratitude and just the testimony we've had with encountering Jesus.
10:51:29 And I just… I feel a personal conviction, like, I don't want Santa or the Easter Bunny to become the focus of either of these holidays for my family.
10:51:38 Because I feel like I'm robbing my child of.
10:51:41 Just the awe and the reverence. that these holy days are meant to inspire.
10:51:48 Again, I encourage you to ask the Lord. how He wants your home to honor these seasons.
10:51:53 In a way, that's not by man's traditions, but by his truth and alignment with.
10:51:59 his truth. For me and my family, when we celebrate Christmas, um, it's definitely more about Jesus and, like, explaining gift-giving, you know, the three wise men brought gifts to Jesus. Jesus is a gift to us, and so… We celebrate that by giving gifts to each other.
10:52:17 Um, we don't really… carve on Santa, like, we acknowledge him.
10:52:24 But we're not saying, oh, you better be good, or Santa's not gonna come, like, we're not… really saying, oh, Santa's gonna bring all your gifts. We're not… giving him that, um… pedestal, if you will.
10:52:38 we've, you know, well, if we're in a… a Christmas market, so, like, one of the cities nearest, they have, like, a Kris Kringle market.
10:52:47 And, uh, we'll… yeah, we'll get… we'll go visit Santa, we'll, you know, have the hot chocolate, do the… kind of like the… the seasonal.
10:52:56 activities in our community. that are fun, but we're not putting an emphasis on Santa as this, like.
10:53:04 big guy. Uh, what's another tradition that I like to do.
10:53:08 I haven't successfully, so I won't say this, I have not successfully… accomplished it, but I like the theory of it, is reading Luke. So, every day you read a chapter, because Luke has 25 chapters in it.
10:53:20 So that's something I've started, but, you know, bedtime can be crazy. So, we're still figuring out how to actually, with our 5-year-old, how to… get not actually accomplished, but I think that could be a tradition that we carry on.
10:53:34 Um, on Christmas Day. Well, Christmas Eve, we, like, read the Nativity story. Um, we'll read The Night Before Christmas too, you know, because we usually read two to three books, but, like, we end with the Christmas story.
10:53:47 or the Nativity story? And then on Christmas Day, we do, like, a breakfast together as a family.
10:53:54 We have communion together. I'm wishing happy birthday to Jesus, like, we really make it about Jesus, and then we go open our gifts, and we call our family, and, you know, get together. So… And that's how I've kind of shifted away from my family traditions, even, of celebrating more. Like, I was raised to, like, put cookies out, and.
10:54:15 We did the whole span of looking for Rudolph, like, it was a big deal in my household. And while that was, like, so great growing up, I just have been convicted that I cannot raise my son in the same.
10:54:27 way that my family raised me, because he's growing up in a different world, and I need to equip him.
10:54:32 with the truth. And so if I start bringing in these other.
10:54:39 entities that aren't really the reason for the season.
10:54:43 I just… I've just been convicted personally, like. We need to keep the main thing the main thing.
10:54:49 Same with the Easter Bunny, like, we don't… We don't celebrate the Easter Bunny, we don't put the Easter Bunny on the pedestal, like, we… Um, you know, if we go visit family on Easter, and they do, um.
10:55:03 What's it called? Like, where you? go on an Easter egg hunt. Like, that's fun, like, we'll do that, we'll hide the Easter eggs.
10:55:10 And decorate Easter eggs, um… And, you know, we can even… use the egg, you know, if you've heard the story of, like.
10:55:19 3-in-1, you can use that to educate. And talk about Jesus, God, and Holy Spirit, um… So, there's a lot of fun things we can still do around Easter, but again, we're… in my family, I'm trying to keep the main thing the main thing, and be like, this is…
10:55:33 Celebrating Jesus' resurrection. Dying on the cross for us.
10:55:38 So, like, going to church, having the family dinner.
10:55:41 And really making that the main thing. So, again, I just want to encourage you to, like, ask the Lord how He wants you, and to… and your home to honor these seasons.
10:55:53 Not by man's traditions, but by his truth. As mothers, we are privileged to be gatekeepers of our homes.
10:56:02 And that means what we allow in, things like entertainment, celebrations, traditions, it's gonna shape the spiritual climate of our families.
10:56:11 So we can choose to celebrate through keen culture, or we can choose to celebrate.
10:56:17 through role-play culture. And so, I feel like… As Kingdom Mothers, we should be choosing to celebrate through kingdom culture instead of worldly culture, and we can do this by replacing.
10:56:28 fear with faith-filled traditions, making Jesus the center of every celebration.
10:56:34 Teaching our children why we do what we do.
10:56:37 And not just what we do. I think that's really powerful, especially as you create traditions based on.
10:56:46 biblical reasons, like taking communion. you know, reading the Nativity story, giving gifts.
10:56:52 Why do we do those things? And it points back to Jesus.
10:56:57 Again, ask the Holy Spirit to convict you and guide you each year, because as your children evolve and your family grows, and.
10:57:06 And ages and matures, like. thing, the conversation's gonna shift, it's going to look different, so… Walk in alignment with the Holy Spirit and just be obedient to where He's calling you.
10:57:18 Discernment is dynamic, so I want you to remember this. What God tells you this year might shift next year, so we gotta just stay sensitive to His leading.
10:57:29 So, in closing, asking the mothers, our job isn't to follow rules.
10:57:34 is to follow the voice. of Jesus, our shepherd.
10:57:38 So whether it's Halloween, it's Christmas, Easter, or any other holiday, the goal isn't to fit in. And I think that's a big thing for Kingdom Mothers, like, we.
10:57:47 are not called to fit in. We're not called to be a part of this world.
10:57:51 We're called to shine the light of Jesus wherever we are, in whatever way He leads.
10:57:56 That's what we're called to do. As followers, as Kingdom Mothers.
10:58:00 So ask him this week, Lord, how do you want my family to celebrate you?
10:58:06 In this season. And I truly believe that he's going to answer you, and he's going to bring peace.
10:58:12 And that piece is gonna walk with you as you… follow him in obedience.
10:58:18 So I hope this episode blesses you, I hope this helps you make.
10:58:22 wise, biblical decisions around your holiday traditions and how you proceed.
10:58:28 And do it from a place of love and light instead of a place of fear.