by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

How can you tell it’s fall? The answer:  Pumpkins. Not necessarily pumpkins in the garden. No, it’s about much more than that. It’s pumpkins on every store shelf in every form you can think of—and some you never thought of. And some you’d rather not ever have thought of. 

Pumpkins on every front porch. On tables. In baskets. Arranged, prepared, decorated. You’ll find pumpkin in your breakfast pastry. In your lunch soup. In your dinner salad. It’s in your coffee! We eat, sleep, breathe pumpkins. Literally “breathe” because the number of pumpkin-scented candles, perfumes, air fresheners and the like is getting more impressive by the autumn-minute. Pumpkins have been tinted and whittled, glittered and frittered. They’re sculpted, whipped, and crafted. We have pumpkins for every personality. Anyone else close your eyes at night and see orange? We’ve got pumpkinality!

There have also been a few disturbing turns for pumpkins. Chicken pumpkin taco. Really? Seriously, why? Pumpkin potato chips. Pumpkin pizza. Those are all ideas that should’ve been squashed. (Squashed? Mercy, there’s even pumpkin in your humor. “Pun”-kins?)

That doesn’t even count the fake ones. Fabric, metal, wood—will that be paper or plastic? What’s with the extreme pumpkinization of our society? And I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve been sucked in. Willingly, even. Well, not the tacos, chips, or pizza. But the rest? Wholeheartedly, all in.

It’s good to remember that our society can be influenced. And that it needs to be. Not really for pumpkins—though I confess, I do love them. But for Jesus. For truth. The kind of influence that counts for eternity. 

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” He wasn’t talking about Jack-o-lanterns when He said, “A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven,” Matthew 5:14-16, HCSB.

Put your pumpkins in a basket, fine. But not your light. It’s meant to be shining, influencing—pointing a lost world to a saving Christ. We’re to shine by sharing the Gospel of Jesus, and by the way we live to bring Him glory.

First Peter 2:12 says to “Conduct yourselves honorably” among unbelievers. The next verses get a bit more specific about that conduct. Verse 13 says to “Submit to every human authority because of the Lord” and then the passage sums up in verse 17, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor,” (HCSB).

I’m so much more wholeheartedly “all in” when it comes to shining the light of Christ in this culture. I don’t want to be remembered merely as the lady with the pumpkins on her porch. I would much rather be known as one who lives and influences with integrity, and that one who can’t quite shut-up about all things Jesus.

Meanwhile, when it comes to squash, I won’t try to tell you what you pump-“kin” and “kin-not” do. But I’ve heard you can even make it into pie. What a great idea. 

Rhonda Rhea is an award-winning humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway, and many more. She is the author of 19 books, including the popular romantic comedies co-authored with her daughter Kaley Rhea, Off-Script & Over-Caffeinated and Turtles in the Road. Rhonda and Kaley have also teamed up with Bridges TV host Monica Schmelter for the Messy to Meaningful books and TV projects. Along with Beth Duewel, Rhonda writes the Fix Her Upper series, and she also co-authored Unruffled: Thriving in Chaos with Edie Melson. She speaks at conferences and events from coast to coast, serves on many boards and committees, and stays busy as a publishing consultant. Rhonda says you can find her living near St. Louis drinking too much coffee and snort-laughing with her pastor/husband, five grown children, and a growing collection of the most exceptional grandbabies.