On February 2nd, we here in the United States will observe the popular tradition of Groundhog Day, a very special day for the small town of Punxsutawney, PA. On Groundhog Day, the wise “Punxsutawney Phil” comes out of his burrow on Gobbler's Knob in front of thousands of eager spectators to predict how much longer winter will be. Legend says that if Phil sees his shadow, then there will be six more weeks of winter, otherwise there will be an early spring.

If you ever saw the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray, this legend of the groundhog may sound familiar to you. However for Murray’s character, a miserable self-centered TV weatherman also named “Phil”, the Groundhog Day experience was quite different than any normal day. Phil finds himself stuck in Punxsutawney due to a bad snow storm and, even worse, reliving Groundhog Day over and over and over again. At first awareness of this, the bitter and selfish Phil thought he would take advantage of this fact and do whatever he pleased knowing that the next day he would go through it all over again anyways. Over time, however, Phil realizes the possibility that he might be stuck in this recurring day forever. Phil begins to change. Instead of thinking about himself and the awful situation he’s in, he learns about others and grows to love the town which he felt trapped in and the people who live in it.

Sometimes we can feel like Phil, huh? We can find ourselves upset about the situations we are in, the lives we are given, or the people that surround us. We may even get mad at God, feeling as though God dealt us a “bad hand” in life. And like Phil, sometimes it seems that the messes we find ourselves in will never end and we will be stuck in them forever. But it’s times like these when we need to remind ourselves that God loved us even before we were born. God didn’t intend for us to be caught up in a seemingly endless loop of difficult times and struggles. Phil trapped himself in his own misery by only thinking about himself and disregarding the people and events that God put in his life to bring him real joy. It’s hard to see the Spirit working in our lives, especially when things are tough and all we can think about is ourselves and how we can make it better on our own, just as Phil tried to do.

As we journey through the rest of this cold and dark winter season, let’s not get stuck in Groundhog Day looking for our shadow, but rather let’s look for the light of Christ and be attentive to God’s Holy Spirit working through us, through the events we experience, and through others, leading us to that joy which God wants for us so much.

 
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