The Heathen Hippy Child- Part 1

This month will begin a series of installments about my life journey. I hope to add to it monthly or more often as the Lord leads.



A clean slate?



When people ask if I was raised in a Christian home, I tell them, "no." To put it bluntly, I was raised a heathen- a heathen hippy child. I really was. I've often been told that having been raised a heathen really isn't so bad because then I didn't have to un- learn anything and that I had a "clean slate". But ya know what? I really didn't have a clean slate because I did have many influences and impressions that affected my heart and my thinking.



My family didn't claim to be Christian- not at all. Well... I take that back. After filling out forms at grade school one year, I came home and asked my mom, “What does it mean when it says- what religion are you? What am I supposed to put there?” “Well!” My mom replied in a horrified voice, “you put down Christian!!” "Oh...." (Holly shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes) I had no clue what she meant. My Mother obviously had received more "religious instruction" than I had... How was little Holly supposed to know?



There were several religious movies that I saw while growing up that gave me some impressions; movies like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments and another one that I'll mention later but in my opinion, Hollywood's view of the Life of Christ is extremely limited, if not distorted.



For some reason my mom would play religious Christmas music every year. I attended public school in the days that a religious Christmas was observed so I did hear something about angels and a cute little baby Jesus. I knew that Jesus was born and had a little halo- whatever that was. (Holly scratches head) But I had no clue how it all related to me. In the darkened grade school cafeteria, I remember feeling goose bumps running up and down my spine while singing the Christmas carol, Silent Night. I remember liking it but somehow I got the feeling that ghosts were involved! Ha! At any rate, Silent Night became my favorite Christmas carol. I had no idea what "holy" meant, I just liked those goose bumps. Can you blame her?



A Charlie Brown Christmas also taught me a portion of the good news. Again, goose bumps came when I watched that cartoon and especially at the end when all the children sang, Angels We Have Heard On High. In case any of you readers are not familiar with Charlie Brown's Christmas, a little boy named Linus quotes the nativity passage from Luke in this cartoon. At the time, I don't think I realized he was quoting from the scriptures. To my knowledge, I had never even seen a Bible before and I certainly wouldn't have known what was written in one. Well, Charlie Brown's Christmas became the heathen hippy child's favorite Christmas time cartoon. It won over Frosty The Snowman and even Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer! I think even way back then I felt the Lord calling me, drawing and wooing me. I just didn't know what it was!



To be continued...