HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY

This is my all time favorite April Fools' devotional. I've printed it before but I figure if it did me good to read it again, some of you might appreciate it too. Pay particular attention to the paragraph I put in bold print.  

The devotional is from MOMENTS WITH MAJESTY by Jack Hayford, 1990 Multnomah Press, pp. 85-87. 

"Some explain April Fool's Day as a relic of the Roman festival Cerealia, held at the beginning of April.

The mythology behind the observance is interesting. Prosperina, playing in the spring-sprouted daffodils fresh upon the Elysian meadows is kidnapped by Pluto and carried off to the underworld. Her mother, Ceres, upon seeking her, forever chases the echoes of her daughter's screams, but never finds her.

I inquired into this tidbit of mythical lore today because I am persuaded that our culture's holiday and fun-day observances will always have something to teach us . . . if we program them to do so.

I hold no stock with those who expend their energy debunking special days, tirelessly warning people that the observance of such-and-such a day is "a surrender to paganism." Frankly, I have difficulty being patient with a mentality that is half witch hunt and half sour grapes. I prefer to enjoy the simple and innocent delights of our culture's calendar (insofar as the dates can be simply and innocently observed!) and to program those dates in my mind to make them serve me. I do that by linking them with annual reminders of some practical truth in the Word of God.

Ceres' pursuit of her kidnapped daughter is an interesting point, for Pluto, in Roman mythology, is the equivalent of the "son of Satan." The mother's quest for her daughter, deluded and detoured by the echoes of her screams, suggests and equally bewildering quest common to many people in our world.

Springtime awakens in nearly everyone the longing for agelessness, the quest for romance, and the search for some fountain of youth. The renewal of the landscape gives rise to the human wish for an endless succession of fulfilling years. The season produces a string of pathetic human attempts to recapture lost youth:

• the underdressed matron or the overly made-up woman
• the forty-to-fiftyish male ogling disinterested girls, thinking his clever banter can somehow reverse the clock
• the macho man whose quest to prove his youthful manliness concludes at a Jacuzzi nursing strained muscles
• women overspending time and money at health and beauty spas, attempting to meet society's standards of glamour (when a few simple exercises and a little self-denial would shape and release the loveliness wrought in them by the Creator's hand).

It's springtime, and happily so. But I've determined April First shall serve me as a reminder of the blessing of increased years. Aging holds no fear for those who drink at the fountain of real life in Christ; and springtime speaks of resurrection, not dying. As believers in Him who is LIFE, let us refuse at any season to succumb to the haunting cries emanating from the world system, luring us to chase the echoes of elusive youth.

Television, movies, magazine ads, the Avon lady, and fashion designer all have some positive values to serve. But never let them substitute myths and false images for your true identity. And your age is part of that.

To chase vanished youth is to become an April Fool, no matter what time of year it is."