What I Learned in April

Linking up with others over at Emily Freeman‘s site  for the always entertaining and often enlightening monthly link up where we’re sharing What We Learned in April..

Mine include some faith, some facts, and some fun….

…that indulging is better than abstaining.  I had never observed Lent before, but this year I decided to participate in a challenge to read through the New Testament during this 40 day religious observance. Modern day observers of Lent often give up an action considered to be a vice, but I know from years of experience that my efforts to abstain from any form of bad habit or behavior have failed miserably. What I have learned is the truth that the way to overcome evil is with good (Romans 12:21), that light dispels darkness (John 1:5), and that it is when we first “awake to righteousness“(that we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Him), that we can then go forth “and sin not” (I Corinthians 15:34 KJV). But instead we religiously choose abstinence, thinking we’ll benefit. Here’s the truth though…

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why… do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,”Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”…in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Colossians 2:20-23

Simply put…do not’s do not work! Why is it we’re always trying to clean up the outside instead of acknowledging that He has already cleansed us on the inside? Reading the entire New Testament in just 40 days helped remind me to do just that.  Yes, for Lent, instead of abstaining I indulged…indulged myself in reading His Word…and let it do the work.

For the word of God is living and powerful… Hebrews 4:12a

…about a little piece of information that could have saved me lots of frustration.  D.id you know there are tabs on the ends of boxes of aluminum foil and plastic wrap which when pushed in keep the roll from coming out of the box? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

…about a handy little writing app.  Before you publish your writing you might want to run it through the Hemingway app. Among other things, this helpful app highlights weak adverbs, unnecessarily long or complex sentences, and identifies reading levels. It’s a great way to catch some things in our rough drafts we might otherwise miss.

…that there is a National Scrabble Day.  I couldn’t agree more that there should be an entire day set aside to acknowledge this fantastic word game! Scrabble Day is celebrated on April 13 in honor of the birth of Alfred Mosher Butts who created the game in 1931. I got so excited when I discovered this that I made a huge blunder on the daily prompt list for my Bible-based photo-a-day challenge, bumping Palm Sunday to the completely wrong day. Oops. Fortunately, I discovered and fixed my mistake just in time, hopefully saving any participants from celebrating Palm Sunday on Saturday. (I’d love for you to join in the May Photo-a Day)

…of one more reason to love my winter home.  Since I was born and raised in Florida I’ve always been aware that Florida is known as the Sunshine State, but I did not know that the city of St. Petersburg, where I now reside during the winter months, is known as the Sunshine City. St. Petersburg holds the  Guinness World Record for the most days of consecutive sunshine…768 straight days! It hails a reputation for averaging approximately 361 days of sunshine annually. Quite a contrast to my summer hometown which ranks #5 in the 48 contiguous states for least amount of sunshine annually. So, let’s see….if I continue to be privileged enough to live the blessed life of a snow bird then I am living in the truest definition of Sun-day funday….every day of the year.