40 Acts of Lent: day 28 - foolish

Act twenty eight - Foolish by Adrian Plass
It's April Fools' Day and you're fresh out of new ideas. Don't skip the chance to get away with doing something outrageous: try putting a generous twist on April Fools' and do something surprising that's actually nice.

"God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, 

'He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. 

His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.'"

                                                                                                        2 Corinthians 9:8–11 (The Message)
                       
April Fools' Day didn't exist when Jesus was here, but folk must have wondered sometimes. He said stupid things that could only be sick jokes or hopelessly inflated expectations.
Examples? What about saying a dead girl wasn't dead, but sleeping? Such a bad joke. Such an irresponsible statement to heartbroken parents. Stupid, eh?

Remember the widow of Nain? Devastated by her son's death. His heart went out to her. Fine, but look what he actually said.
'Don't cry.'
Don't cry? Appalling counselling technique. Absolute rubbish. Not funny, and not helpful.

What about his preposterous claim to have 'overcome death'?
Honestly! How disappointing when it ended in disaster.
Crucifixion. Dead. Gone.

Of course, all this would be true, except that Jairus' daughter did wake up, the widow's son was restored to life, and Jesus did rise from the dead, rescuing us in the process.

It's about the Holy Spirit, isn't it? It's about believing in a power that can make silly things mean something, a power that transforms foolish-sounding promises into gloriously unexpected reality. Bucket loads of divine generosity are available for needy people.
Let's ask God for enough courage and faith to get personally involved in the process of distribution.

Choose how to complete this act...
GREEN OPTION:
Lose your inhibitions and set out to make someone smile today.

YELLOW OPTION:
Feeling braver? Devise a generous surprise or do the generous thing no-one expects.

RED OPTION:
Like the psalmist, throw caution to the wind, give to the needy in reckless abandon.