“The maple syrup’s full of ants. A mouse is creeping on the shelf. Is that a spider on your back? I ate the whole pie by myself. The kitchen sink just overflowed. A flash flood washed away the school. I threw your blanket in the trash. I never lie…..I….. April Fool!”
-Myra Cohn Livingston
Back in the Day(s)
Every April 1st, I smile.
“Back in the days” of raising my children, I remember feeling great angst that fateful first morning of April.
One never knew what might happen.
Saran wrap over the toilet seat.
The kitchen sink sprayer rubber-banded, so when the water was turned on…
Just to name a few.
We shared laughs that will last a lifetime.
Yet, being a fool the other 364 days of the year, is no laughing matter.
Forgive my seriousness on this highly anticipated and highly marketed day of fun, but it seemed the perfect day to share the message of Psalm 14. I’m not usually this forthright, but several conversations lately have led me to this point.
Psalm 14:1 warns, “The fool says in his heart,’There is no God.'”
Fool, as used in this psalm, suggests:
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without reason
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senseless, foolish, stupid
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without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly.
Stupid isn’t always a bad word.
Another “back-in-the-day” rule in our home was that we couldn’t call one another stupid.
Mom, so and so called me stupid.
Ohhh, so and so said a bad word.
I laugh today when I remember these adorable little moments of child rearing, but in all honesty, stupid isn’t always a bad word.
Foolish is synonymous with being stupid. Stupid can mean, “being dulled in feeling or sensation; marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting; senseless.”
Recklessness and Regret
I have been a stupid girl. Yes, many, many times in my life, I have made stupid, foolish, senseless choices that led to recklessness and regret.
Laid in the sun until I had third degree burns.
Held grudges way too long.
Let people tell me how to live my life.
Shall I keep going?
There is a God
The truly miraculous, amazing, insane, and completely marvelous thing, though, is that God loved me so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to save me from my foolishness.
Why? Simply because God loves each one of us so much. It’s baffling, I agree. But true.
Even though we are so stupid at times, He still loves us.
Today, will you join me in praying for those people in our lives who perhaps are acting rashly, without reason, or well, excuse my bluntness, just plain stupid (in the truest sense of the word) or foolish?
I knew better, but still acted foolishly.
It was the earnest prayers of several strategically-placed people in my life, that brought me to God.
For each one of them, I am most grateful.
I don’t know where I would be without His daily presence, provision, and protection.
I leave you with this beautiful promise, written so long ago. Take a few moments on this very fun and silly day to think about the life that God has in store for you.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.
He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity