This past Monday was Groundhog Day. It has always amazed me that a groundhog gets
a "day." I wonder how all the other animals feel about
that? No offense to the critters, but
Groundhog Day is probably best known because of the 1993 movie with Bill
Murray.
If you haven’t seen the movie you probably know the
premise. A disgruntled television reporter
is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the Groundhog Day festivities
and is further disgruntled when he is snowed in and has to stay another
night. He wakes up the next day and,
instead of it being the day after groundhog day, it's groundhog day all over
again. This cycle humorously repeats
itself giving Phil, the disgruntled reporter, a chance to perfect that
day. Through a process of trial and
error he gets to relive a day until he finally gets it right. Happy ending.
Roll the credits.
The movie, of course, is fantasy. Things like that don’t happen. Although there are some days when we'd like a
"do-over", the fact of the matter is that life is a one shot
deal. Each day starts and each day ends
and when the clock strikes midnight the day is gone - forever. Every day is a slice of life that can never be
reclaimed . The moral of Groundhog Day,
as a I see it, is to recognize this reality and make sure that you do all you
can to get every day right!
The Bible encourages us to "number our days." What an interesting thought. Each day has a number, a unique marker that
will never repeat itself. Too often I
think of life in terms of years. After all,
we celebrate our birthday once a year.
When asked my age I would tell you I'm
53. We measure our lives in 365 day
units. I suppose that makes it easier to
keep track of things, but what if we celebrated
every day! If we did, I'm 19,397.
Try blowing out all those candles!
The Bible also reminds us that, "This is the day the Lord
has made!" God has made "this"
day, and I figure that anything God has made has a function and a purpose. This day is unique. I'll never have another February 6, 2015. There are no do-over's, so if I'm going to
get this day right I must recognize I have one chance, and one chance only.
Granted, some days will be better than others. Some days will be more productive than
others. Some days will be more
memorable. Some days we will wish never
happened. Some days will be wasted. But to make the most out of our lives, which is
really just a compilation of days, we must greet each dawn and give it its
unique number knowing that it will never repeat itself. If we don’t, we will come to the end of our
days and wonder where all those 24 hour units went.
On the other hand, when we treasure every day as its own
unique gift we radically increase the probability that we will get more and more
of those days right, and as those days pile up we will see that we have built
for ourselves a life that will have a happy ending!
Well, I'm going to live #19,397 today. Have a yourself a great "day"!
Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
