“Only the knife

knows

what goes on

in the heart

of a pumpkin!”

–Simone Swartz-Bart–

__________________________

“The Pumpkin and the Carver”

by Debbie Allen

As the end of October arrives, the radiant foliage that captured and raptured our hearts for much too short a time, has all but disappeared now. There’s an uninvited crispness hanging in the air, further reminding us that fall has truly fallen…and the first frost has permission to brush its icy masterpieces onto the faces of every pumpkin growing in the pumpkin patches all around town!

As a little girl, I can remember my heart racing at the first thought of making a trip to Jackson’s Pumpkin Patch, with my brothers and three younger cousins. My mom and my aunt drove us there nearly every year. It was the highlight of our October!  Dressed in our warmest sweaters, my brothers, cousins, and I raced through the pumpkin patch in opposite directions with one idea in mind. To pick a pumpkin we could call our very own! After an hour of what we kids liked to call, search and rescue in the pumpkin patch; each of us toted our selections back to the car. My brothers loaded the six pumpkins we chose into the trunk of my aunt’s car, while mom found a place alongside of them for twelve muddy shoes.  Then we headed back home to enjoy the hot spiced cider and doughnuts mom set out for us before carving our pumpkins. With very little help from the adults, six sets of children’s hands went to work, eagerly designing our personal pumpkin heads. With bursts of laughter and occasional sighs of frustration echoing out of our hollowed-out pumpkins; we all sliced and diced and scraped; poked, prodded, and pulled-out everything that hindered our pumpkin heads from becoming the masterpieces we intended them to be. Their expressions ranged from cute…to comical…to creepy (my brothers pumpkins were always the creepy ones).  But nothing our own hands carved that day could’ve brought those pumpkins to life any more than the candles we placed down inside of them when we were finished. The moment my mom lit a match, and its flickering flame collided with the tips of the candlewicks; a magical transformation occurred inside each of our pumpkins. For us kids, it was like watching new life explode inside each pumpkin head! Every beautiful expression carved… came alive in that moment! Needless to say, our own faces lit-up at the sight of them, too!  When darkness fell that evening, we carried our new creations outside and lined them up on the front porch step for all the world to see. After all, who wouldn’t want to share something so beautiful? 

Every one of those pumpkins we carved as kids, had its own unique story to tell the watching world. Because of the willing hands of a few young carvers that day, every pumpkin head’s story was literally transformed from its former life in the pumpkin patch; into a story of light…not of darkness anymore.  You see, the carver is the pumpkin’s only hope in this world!

Though you and I are anything but a pumpkin in this world, still…a pumpkin’s journey from the pumpkin patch to our own front porches; uniquely points our hearts towards the process of what it’s like to become a child of God:

–Much like a pumpkin, God (The Heavenly Carver) sees you in a field ripe for harvest; and runs for you. Then He picks you up, washes the dirt off you, and calls you His very own. You become His chosen treasure.  

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.  Your filth will be washed away.” (Ezekiel 36:5a NLT)

–The pumpkin, at this point, knows the carver can be fully trusted.  The pumpkin invites the hand of the carver in, willingly surrendering as the carver works to make a new opening in the pumpkin’s hard outer shell.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will come in…” (Revelation 3:20a NLT)

–The carver’s hand again, wields his blade deeper into the pumpkin’s heart…removing all the seeds of sin, doubt, lust, impurities…cutting away the excess…scraping and smoothing its walls; all in preparation for the gift of light the carver plans to leave inside of the pumpkin.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “I will take out your stoney, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  And I will put my Spirit in you…”  (Ezekiel 36:26a,27a NLT).

–No pumpkin on its own can ever come to know this priceless gift of light inside of it without the touch of the carver’s hand.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word:

“Your lives light up the world! So don’t hide your light!  Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your heavenly Father in Heaven.”  (Matthew 5:14a, 16 TPT)

Only the carver’s hand can give the pumpkin new eyes to see with…eyes capable of seeing far beyond the darkness of the old life it once knew, sitting in the dirt of the pumpkin patch. Finally, the carver’s blade leaves the pumpkin with a giant smile…reflecting to the watching world, that nothing in life compares to the gift of being cleaned from the inside out! Seedless… the pumpkin now gratefully, bears the precious light of the carver himself!

–God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “But you are God’s chosen treasure, set apart as God’s devoted ones. He (The Heavenly Carver) called you out of darkness to experience His marvelous Light, and now He claims you as His very Own. He did this so that you would broadcast His Glorious Wonders throughout the world. For at one time, you were not God’s [children] but now you are.  At one time, you knew nothing of God’s Mercy, because you hadn’t received it yet, but now…YOU ARE DRENCHED with it!” (1Peter 2:9b, 10 TPT)