Lessons from the Heart

The 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” tells the story of Phil, a selfc entered weatherman who is focused on advancing his career and is unaware that there is anyone else in the world.

Bill McLean is pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Delphi. After being sent to cover the Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pa., Phil finds himself trapped as he wakes up each morning living the same day Feb. 2, Groundhog Day over and over again.

How many times have we felt trapped in our own lives? We get caught up in the routines of our daily lives and suddenly without even realizing it the days blur together as the seasons fly by. We isolate ourselves from our loved ones by focusing on misplaced priorities or destructive behaviors like abusing alcohol and using illegal drugs.

Over the movie’s 101 minutes, Phil spends months or maybe years repeating the same day over and over again. Eventually, this self-centered weatherman begins to learn that there is more to life than material wealth and fame. As the movie ends, Phil wakes up a changed person on Feb. 3 having discovered that there is more to life than fame and prestige as he discovers what it means to love.

We may not be caught reliving Feb. 2 over and over like Phil but we can each find ourselves trapped when we live each day only for ourselves. As Phil learned, we need love in our lives because: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NRSV.

In each of our lives we can be trapped re-living Groundhog Day over and over again as we focus only on ourselves. Or, we can be set free and live our lives focused on loving and serving God as well as God’s people as we demonstrate that “. . . faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13, NRSV.