Trunk or Treat was a Blessing!

I was trying to figure out what to title this blog, and it was either “Trunk or Treat was a Blessing” or “Better Late than Never.” I was supposed to get a blog post out on Tuesday, and it’s Saturday, so that explains the “Better Late than Never” option! But I really just want to focus on what a great day it was today.

At Harvest Community Church of the Nazarene here in Mitchell, SD, we had Trunk or Treat today, and it was such a blessing! I hope we were a blessing to the kids and the families who came by to get some candy, but the whole day was such a blessing to me! 

I had a stressful week this week, and I was sort of feeling preoccupied with stuff running through my mind, but once we got set up and kids started coming through the line, my whole outlook changed. There were so many wonderful blessings I experienced today, and I want to share them with you.

1. I was blessed by all of the people who stepped up to help at the event! We had someone taking kids on a hayride. We had people cooking and serving chips and hot dogs. We had people filling the candy buckets. We had people decorating trunks and handing out candy. We had wonderful people who organized the event. We even had our pastor who flying a drone at the event to take some videos of the wonderful day!

2. I was blessed by my trunk-mates! My husband, Geoff, handed out candy to the kids, and my ministry-partner, Michelle, and I handed out bracelets to the ladies. These two people are a lot of fun. Geoff teased the kids and pretended like he didn’t know who they were dressed up as. There was a boy in a football jersey, and Geoff said, “Are you a baseball player? Soccer? Basketball? Tennis?” The boy looked at him confused, and said, “football” with a look of surprise on his face. Michelle made the whole day a lot of fun as she brought the fun right away with a positive attitude and a cheery smile!

3. I was blessed by connecting with the ladies who came to the event. We handed out bracelets and cards with the dates of our ladies’ events to the women who came to Trunk or Treat, and I loved seeing the surprise on their faces! Many of them were taken aback that we wanted to give them something special when they weren’t expecting it. 

4. I was blessed by seeing students I’ve taught in the past, previous coworkers, friends, and others I know from the community. It was great being able to give or get a hug and to catch up for a short time with those I hadn’t seen in a while.

5. I was blessed by seeing the kids having a wonderful time! There was an adorable little one dressed as a cow sitting on her daddy’s shoulders who waved and smiled with a sucker in her hand. There was a young lady dressed up in a sparkly dress, probably around 7, who was so excited to see our vehicle decorated as a cat! She loudly proclaimed, “What number are you? I’m voting for you!” Then about 15 minutes later, she ran back over and yelled, “I voted for the cat!” We saw many costumes and children of all ages: some were running and smiling and excited to be there; some were bashful and hiding behind their parents; some were polite and quiet and whispered, “thank you”; some didn’t talk at all. What a variety of costumes and kids we saw today!

6. I was blessed by being able to serve! You know, I realized today that when I’m feeling stressed or down or sorry for myself, the best thing to do is find a way to serve others, and if that means handing out candy to kids, then that’s even better!

   
   

Luke 6:38 says this: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I truly feel like I gave just a very little today, but I received so much! Blessings upon blessings upon blessings! Thank you, Lord, for blessing me through Trunk or Treat!

Thanks for reading, friends.

Love,

Julie