Here’s to you, Punxsutawney Phil

Why no, it’s not snowing in Sonoma County. We’ve got a beautiful blue sky and 65 degrees. The windows are open and the house is flooded with light and warmth. I feel sorry for all of you romping in the freshly fallen snow back east.

Which brings me to Puxatony Phil, a critter I’ve never met, but whom I’ve talked about and laughed at often over the years–more than 54 times to be inexact.

The reason is the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. We watch the film every time we stumble on it while mindlessly flipping through channels. And every time, I’m reminded of a column written when the movie came out, by The Boston Globe now-retired columnist, Ellen Goodman. She thought the film memorable for one simple reason: it reflects adult life. Some of us have new adventures every day.  Like children, we open our eyes to new places with exciting opportunities to learn and savor something we’ve never done before. But for most adults, it’s the daily round of behaviors: shower, shave, breakfast, coffee, paper (at least for me) and off to work. Same commute, same job, same people, same life. Just like Phil went through on that immortal Groundhog Day that didn’t end until . . .

My take is, Phil didn’t break out of an interminable groundhog day until he learned how to love and how to think of someone other than himself. From that love and attempt to put himself into someone else’s shoes, he began to see needs and respond to them. He changed and became lovable himself. And when the winter of his miserable self-centered life ended and bloomed into the joy of someone else, well, he walked out into freshly fallen snow hand-in-hand with his future. But he had to look, recognize, respond and change.

I think God often does the same thing to us; puts us into a state where we have no choice but to question the point of our experiences/life/day. He then invites us to look at our life and circumstances from His point of view.

And you know what? It looks different.

There’s a lot more love, a lot less selfishness, and a lot more willingness to make snow angels for pure joy :-), along with reaching out a helping hand to those in need.

February 2 rolls around like clockwork each year and asks me to reconsider my own life. How does it look through God’s eyes?

And if there isn’t any joy, or child-like excitement over something new, well, maybe I ought to just throw a snowball and get something started? Particularly with someone I love–or whom God sends across my path.

Here’s to you, Phil.