“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” ― Thomas Jefferson

I'm not sure that April Fools Day has the same punch it used to have. I'm sure there are many who still look for pranks they can play on their friends and family, however, and it may just be me, I don't really hear or see that much about it anymore. At any rate, my readers are not fools, and I do bid everyone a happy good morning here on this brand new month and a brand new day, Monday, April 1, 2019. Or, as I think of it, Tax Month USA. My wife asks me every now and then if I have our taxes finalized. As President Clinton might have said, it depends on what definition one ascribes to the word finalized. I am close. I know. It only counts in horseshoes. And, I believe I've also heard it used with hand grenades. (Let me confuse this a little more: If both of one player's horseshoes are closer than the opponent's, two points are scored. A ringer scores three points. In the case of one ringer and a closer horseshoe, both horseshoes are scored for a total of four points. If a player throws two ringers, that player scores six points. Wikipedia, Scoring in Horseshoes.) No amount of fudging and fiddling around will hold back the deadline, Monday, April 15, 2019. I typically send mine in about week before the deadline. I can remember a few times of me sitting in my car waiting in line, to hand the return to the postal employee to get it postmarked on the final day. I suppose it was a show of something. Sounds rather silly as I think about it today, although, I know there are those who still do it. (I remember years ago I thought it to be a really smart thing to request an extension. They granted it, BUT, I learned you must pay your estimated taxes and if the estimate is wrong you pay a penalty. The word extension sounded so good to me.)

I started to say you live and learn but then someone would ask me to prove that in my own life. I can report that I am a 'work in progress' and God is still working on me. Every time I use that metaphor for how God teaches and develops His own, I can't help but remember what was originally a children's song written by the late Joel Hemphill. The chorus goes like this:

He's still working on me
To make me what I need to be
It took him just a week to make the moon and stars
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient He must be
'Cause He's still workin' on me

Is that Biblical? I think so. Here's the Phillips Amplified rendering of the Apostle Paul's word to the local fellowship meeting at Phillipi, "I thank God for you Christians at Philippi whenever I think of you. My constant prayers for you are a real joy, for they bring back to my mind how we have worked together for the Gospel from the earliest days until now. I feel sure that the one who has begun his good work in you will go on developing it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1, Verses 3-6) Or you might want to read the account from Jeremiah Chapter 18 concerning the Potter, the clay, and the wheel. I'm glad He is still working on me. What say you?

I have a longtime good friend who is a brother in Christ and also a CPA. I saw him recently and he said he was, like always, inundated with tax returns he is working on. I remember many years ago him telling me how people will bring to him a huge box with all their stuff thrown into it. No sorting, no organization. Receipts, write-offs, pay slips, account balances, and he had to go through each one and organize them in order to begin the return. I'm not as organized as I should be, but, I always used that example to pat myself on the back for at least keeping stuff together by each month or by special categories, such as The Santa Enterprise. Oh well, as I told him, he gets to charge for doing the clerical work. He just rolled his eyes. Many people could do their own returns but they have been brought up to believe they are just too complicated to deal with. I've known folks with the most simplistic return you might imagine, yet, they go to a professional tax preparation service to complete their paperwork. I think there is a built-in fear factor that helps propel this type of response. And, I suppose that's good for the tax preparation companies. Yep. There are some offering free returns nowadays. That definitely sounds better than paying. You know the commercial: Free...Free...Free! I think that will do for today. Take care. Enjoy. Remember to remember God's blessings. They are all around. Amen. ....More later.