April Fool's Day

Thirty-six hours of non-stop flood control in our basement has given me an appreciation for April Fool's Day. Just when you think you are in control, just when you think you have everything in order and all systems are functioning, just when you think every contingency is anticipated and all the bases are covered, along comes 5 1/2 inches of rain, then another 2 inches of rain and, after about a three day reprieve, another 1 1/2 inches of rain, followed the next day by 2 1/2 inches of rain . . . then what you have, my friends, is April Fool's Day, or to put it more appropriately, April Fool's Day has you.

I confess it, I was so ready for the rains of March to be behind us I found myself wishing for April: Wishing for daffodils and crocus'; Wishing for warm drying days and white wispy clouds; Wishing for budding trees and farming work to begin; Wishing for whatever was over the rainbow that wasn't faintly connected to the miserable slogging of wet/dry vacuums running around the clock trying to suck the musty stench of ground borne water out of our home. I so wished for it, it came . . . and that, I think is one oft overlooked meaning in the day: We so wish to be beyond March, we become fools and wish our life away. Ironically, April arrives whether we are ready for it or not. Wishing March away, simply because of the rains, is comparable to wishing Easter away because of the darkness of the morning: either way, someone will be surprised to learn, it takes one to fully explain the other.

It takes March rains (and all of the accompanying problems) to set the stage for April wonder, even as it takes the darkness of Saturday night to set the stage for Easter morning majesty. Wishing for one at the expense of the other only diminishes the outcome of both. Unmitigated joy is sacrificed on the altar of the mundane and, as often as not, we end up receiving exactly what we pray for: a 'ho-hum' existence bereft of either rain or resurrection. April Fool's Day has become for me, this year, as much an indictment of my own tiredness of dealing with rain as it is a reminder that, too often, we approach the goodness of God with similarly weary eyes barely able to see the good for all of our 'self' that we put in God's way.

So, I will savor this day, April Fool's Day, and regard it as the gift God intended. Truth be told, God's April Fool's Day joke is on us anyway: I suspect it will rain in April, too. Ah, well, so be it. Maybe with a good night's sleep, the darkness of the pre-Easter season morning will give way to the "Wow!" of a bright new day in Resurrection Joy, as well. I pray so for us all.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don