Phil

Nope, not Dr. Phil: "Punxsatawney Phil."

You know, the groundhog. Groundhog…Day.

Groundhog Day is tomorrow, and of course it’s one of the truly great holidays on our calendar.

Will he or won’t he, that is the question. Tradition has it that lots of forces in our natural world depends on whether that groundhog sees his shadow. Either we’re on the way to an early spring or doomed to six more weeks of repetitious, winter skies.

This morning has been a beautiful one. Here in Douglasville, there hasn't been a cloud in the sky and it’ll be warming up into the 60’s by this afternoon. But don’t count your buttercups just yet. Winter will be back --- and we’ll have to make another push or two before it’s time for swimming pools and baseball games.

But even knowing full-well that wintertime can’t really be over in early February no matter what ol’ Phil does, the press will gather and the world will watch that fat, furry rodent come out of its hole and scamper about with hot breath fogging up the frozen Pennsylvania air.

“Phil Connors” was tired of being part of that crowd. That’s the name of the weatherman Bill Murray played in the 1993 movie named after the famous holiday. "Groundhog Day" is a great movie because it mimics so much of our everyday life experience.

You see, after Connors does his Groundhog Day weather gig, covering the groundhog for the fourth year in a row, he wakes up on February 3^rd only to realize that it’s really February 2^nd all over again. Morning after morning, day after day, week after week, he wakes up to repeat the same day.

The concept is a fascinating one, and Connors tries all the ways you might ever imagine, and many that you wouldn’t, to break the cycle of repetition and escape back into the routine of his “normal” life.

In the end, we learn a really great Hollywood lesson from his ordeal. You may not be able to change your situation, but you can always change your attitude. Living the same day over and over becomes a great opportunity for this character – allowing him to learn that different reactions in identical situations can yield very different results. He can't control everything, but he can learn to control himself.

Sometimes our lives have Groundhog-ish moments. This morning I woke up at the same time that I do every other day. I ground the beans for my 12,578^th pot of coffee. I left home at the same time for my son’s same school. As he opened the door of the car to head into his class I said, “time to do it again, right?” “Yep,” he replied. We exchanged “love you dudes” and he was gone.

So what makes this day different than any other one?

Everything.

Today won’t be like any other day that I’ve ever had. There will be countless decisions, conversations, subtleties and nuances that will shape reactions, possibilities, and in turn, tomorrow’s opportunities.

The power of the compounded interest of all the gathered days of our lives is pretty awesome.

Kind of makes you want to start the whole thing with a prayer, doesn’t it? That’s a great idea --- and you can punctuate this day’s events in that same way, all the way through.

Now that the holidays are over, I can really say that I love being back in the routine of getting up, showing up, and going back home. But I can also say that the routine might make us miss the wonder, and the power of the seemingly mundane.

So, look for that big ol’ bucktoothed furball on tv tomorrow morning. Enjoy the spectacle and the silliness of his top-hat, black-tie-and-tails wearing entourage. Then have another cup of coffee, say a little prayer of thanksgiving, ask for wisdom and strength, and head out the door into the wonderful monotony of life, complete with all its twists and turns.

God is already there.

Grace + Peace,

Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

Wow, the year is really off to a rolling start. We’ve had incredible worship attendance this January, and I want to keep encouraging our members to maybe get to worship a little early to facilitate traffic flow, park as far from the building as you can so that new folks will have an easier time getting in and consider giving a new person or family the “good” table seats by moving to overflow seating if you have that opportunity. That’s one little but very important role that you can play in showing someone how glad we are to have them joining us at church, and that hospitality might make all the difference!

We’re working hard to maximize the space that we have in our worship facility at each service, and you can trust that we’ll do everything we can to work out the best possible solutions to these wonderful problems. Our “Turn It Over” direct mail piece should begin hitting neighborhoods today and tomorrow, just slightly behind schedule, but in plenty of time to help folks catch a vision of what God might do in their lives during this new year.

SEISMIC SHIFTS BOOK STUDY:

Don’t forget that tomorrow night begins our new book study, Seismic Shifts. We’ll gather at 7pm in our worship space to take a look at little changes that can add up to a dramatically different life in Christ. The study is for six weeks, and if you miss the first one, come on in for the next! 7 pm, Thursday nights --- if you need to order a book, e-mail us: sandi@sothumc.net , and we’ll make sure that you have a copy. If you’ve already paid the $10 for your book, they’re available on the table in our worship entry space. Already, almost 30 adults are signed up!