On Groundhogs

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. I almost forgot about it until last night. It turns out that old Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and forecasted another 6 weeks of winter. Down here in Georgia, though, we have our own groundhog, General Beauregard Lee. Gen. Lee did not see his shadow yesterday, signifying an early spring.

Hmm. Differing opinions. Who do we believe?

Honestly, I don't really care. I will not base my hopes upon a groundhog (as cute and fuzzy as it might be). But, it's still a neat tradition I guess. If nothing else, it's really funny to see a man lift up a fat groundhog in front of a bunch of people who are screaming and hollering. People go crazy at those things, clamoring for a chance just to see a large rodent.

However, when the people leave the event, most of them probably don't even remember what his prediction was. They just wanted to see the show, get a good laugh, and possibly get the chance to get on television. The groundhog really doesn't matter to them. He's just the entertainment. After all, he sits there 364 other days in the year, and no one cares about him.

Many of us often treat God the same way. God has a message for us everyday, but we don't really care about the message. We just want a show. We want entertainment. We just want to enjoy a good time that's centered around God, but God doesn't really matter.

Kind of sounds like a lot of church services doesn't it? Everyong gets together once a year (or once a week), hears what God has to say, cheers a little bit and might get excited, then they go home and forget what happened. We're terrible about that.

So which groundhog do we listen to, Phil or Lee? It doesn't really matter. A groundhog's prediction is completely worthless, yes.

God's message to us, however, is not.