“The Theology of Ground Hog Day”

Have you ever repeated a story that you had told earlier…maybe even earlier in the conversation.  Sometimes I get a clue that this is happening…. the eyes of the person I’m speaking to glaze over…or they nod off… or maybe they say…”you already told me that”….hmmmmm. Sometimes it happens when telling a joke… I get to the punchline and get a “little chuckle” from the audience who obviously heard the joke before. This is not good. 

Wait a minute, could this be happening with my BLOG… after 168 of them, am I repeating myself, have I exhausted my memory and my brain, do I have anything new to say? Are the hundreds of thousands of people who read this BLOG every day, just humoring me… in the words of “ Mr.T ”  from Rocky, are they murmuring, “Pity The Fool”?

I was thinking of the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray. In a nutshell, Bill wakes up each morning to exactly the same day. One movie critic commented, “I think the biggest thing that affects people is the fact that Bill is presented with the exact same day and the very first time he’s presented with it, it’s probably the worst day of his life. And, by the end of the movie, we see that it’s the exact same day but somehow this is probably the best day of his life.”

God gives us many chances to “get it right”. We may have botched up yesterday, but we receive new mercies every new morning. 

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

We can start over every day…even every moment. Like Bill in the movie, hopefully we are continuing to do better each day….hopefully we’re becoming more loving…more patient, kind, generous, joyful, filled with hope. 

This is a very encouraging thought. Maybe it’s not apparent every day, but maybe we can see a trend over a month or 6 months or a year.  Maybe we’re making progress… maybe we’re becoming more loving and more like Christ. So, let’s keep fighting the good fight of faith. Christ is with us every day and will help us to continue to grow in holiness. We may not see it every day, but the Lord will continue to pour out his grace on us… and it will happen. And who knows, maybe I’ll even get some new thoughts for the BLOG…. hmmmmm. 

P.S. Can you believe it’s been almost 30 years since the “Groundhog Day movie”?