thoughts on the news of the day: groundhog day

hmmm…..

            Oh! No! Groundhog Day has been cancelled!  Well, at least the 2011 Woodstock, Illinois Groundhog Day Prognostications Event scheduled for this morning has been called off due to heavy snowfall.  I suspect Groundhog Day events all over the country are being cancelled today because of the weather.

            In the USA and Canada, Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2.  If the day is cloudy and the groundhog rises up out of his burrow and leaves, it signifies that winter is almost over.  If it’s sunny and the groundhog sees his (her?) shadow, supposedly the ground hog will be frightened by it and go back down into the burrow, signifying six more weeks of winter.

            Actually, the most famous of the groundhogs is Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania.  But Phil only has an all-time accuracy rate of 39 percent.  It’s probably not much better than most weather forecasters, but then again it’s not much worse.

            We have high expectations for our weather predictors and assume them to be 100% accurate all of the time.  My favorite weathercaster isn’t on TV at all.  He is a member of our church who watches the weather and is correct about 85% of the time.  He usually always knows when and how much it is going to snow and when and if it will rain.  Maybe he has missed his calling.

            I am glad that my job is not predicting outcomes, like weather forecasters and finance experts.  The pressure would be enormous.  But then, again, maybe I am because I can tell you what Jesus said: “As you sow, so shall you reap.”  In other words, what goes around comes around.  What we do today affects the consequences for tomorrow.  You can count on that 100% of the time.

            And maybe, if we repeat ourselves enough times, like Bill Murray in the movie, “Groundhog Day”, we might get it right.

            hmmm…..