"You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong Phil. I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." - Phil Connors, "Groundhog Day"
The film "Groundhog Day" is so funny, and my husband loves to watch it every year. The basic concept is that Phil Connors, the main character, finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. He is stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, covering the Groundhog Day festivities. Nothing he seems to do will make the day change - he wakes up to the same sounds, the same place, the same situation over and over.
I think the film is so popular because it taps on a theme many of us can relate to. What is happening in our lives that is not the "daily grind?" When was the last time we did something that was exciting? Or, something that really mattered?
We can laugh at the Parable of Phil Connors because it gives us a bit of escapism from our own cold, grey, seemingly endless days. From time to time, we all feel that way a little - stuck in a never ending cycle of bills, laundry, work, and to-do lists.
Phil himself sees the irony of the repetitive day he is stuck in, saying at one point, "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank Piña Coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?"
It is easy to be stuck in Groundhog Day, yearning for the Virgin Islands.
"Well what if there is no tomorrow?," asks Phil. "There wasn't one today!"
If you find yourself stuck somewhere today, pinned in by dismal weather and more dismal thinking, it may be time for a change.
The thing is, however, that the change will probably not come in the way the world looks, but the way you look at the world.
Phil ends up using his time to learn, to listen, to befriend others, to change himself. I don't know if that feels like something that works for you or not. I don't know if you wake up every morning at the same time listening to the same song on the radio, or what your daily grind might hold. I do know, however, that it is grey and cold and many of us are longing for spring.
The challenge is to be where we are and to find ways to thrive in the "bleak midwinter." When sunshine and light seem to be too far away, and life does not seem to be progressing, maybe it is time to succumb to what it offers right now. In these moments, you can choose to let life hold you, while you hold on to the hope that spring IS coming.
Now is not the time to be afraid of shadows. Rather, it is a time to invite them in, with the confidence in knowing that fearing those shadows only makes them linger longer.
For the hope of tomorrow, for the gifts of today, for the letting go of yesterday… may your Groundhog Day be a reminder of each of these. Amen.
In Wisdom,
Brandi Calhoun Diamond
