April Fools...Tuesday

Today is April 1^st, also known as April Fool’s Day. 

In 1708, a correspondent wrote to the British Apollo magazine asking, "Whence proceeds the custom of making April Fools?" Many people today still ask this same question. There are different theories on the origin of April Fool’s Day. The most common theory involves a French calendar reform that took place in the sixteenth century.

According to legend, “in 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d'Avril, or April Fish -- which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools -- and so the tradition was born”.

On April Fool’s Day we tend to find pranks played on those who least expect it amusing, unless we are the targeted fool!

What exactly is a fool? According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, a fool is a person lacking in judgment or prudence, a harmlessly deranged person, or one lacking in common powers of understanding.

What does the Bible have to say about fools?

Proverbs 18:2 explains,
 “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.”

Proverbs 18:6 reads, 

“A fool's lips walk into a fight,
and his mouth invites a beating.”

Ecclesiastes 7:9 warns, 

“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, 

for anger lodges in the bosom of fools”.

Matthew 5:22 reveals, 

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother
will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’
will be liable to the hell of fire”.

On this day, April Fool’s Day, let us spend some time examining ourselves. Do we act like a fool at times? Do we call other people fools? Are we opinionated? Do we speak before we think? What about our temper, do we easily become angered? I pray that when someone attempts to pull a prank on us today that we can honestly turn to that person and say, “I am not a fool according to the word of God”, even if we do fall for the prank.

Lord, 

Help us examining ourselves according to your Word, not according to our own standards or those around us. Let us be willing to make changes where needed. You gave us two ears and only one mouth so that we listen twice as much as we speak. May we learn how to think before we talk and to pay attention to what people have to say before voicing our own opinion.  Let us take pleasure in understanding Your ways and may we see others as You see them. 

Amen. 

Written by

Storm H.

Today's song is "Give Me Wisdom" sung by Micah Blake