Only in America. A day named for the chubby cousin of a rat. A town whose main event is a groundhog playing peekaboo. As Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff says, "I love dis country!"
We even have a movie called "Groundhog Day." It's actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the home of the king groundhog. But it was hearing about the premise of the movie, not the location, that intrigues me.
Basically, Bill Murray plays a TV newscaster who keeps reliving the same day over and over again. It happens to be Groundhog Day in the town that's the epicenter of the celebration.
In the movie, the idea of repeating the same day again and again is played for laughs. Unfortunately, for too many people, that's their real life. And there's nothing funny about it.
"Same old, same old" - that's how life feels for a lot of folks. Just a disconnected, seemingly meaningless series of events that start to feel pretty much the same. Shakespeare described it this way: "Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
OK, so that's not exactly how most of us would say it. We might just ask an honest question: "What's the point?"
We start wondering about "why am I here?" somewhere in our turbulent teens. Unfortunately, a lot of us do our whole life and still don't know the answer. We've got this pile of puzzle pieces on the floor in front of us, but we don't have the top of the puzzle box. We can't figure out what it all makes.
For me, for countless millions for 2,000 years, that's where Jesus comes in. Not the religion called Christianity, but Jesus. People have written volumes on the purpose of life. God does it in six words in the Bible. He's talking about Jesus when He says we are "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). I'm created by Jesus. I'm created for Jesus. And life won't add up until I have Jesus. Or maybe more accurately, Jesus has me.
The only One who really knows the purpose of my life is the One who gave me my life. And He says that we were made for a relationship with Jesus. A relationship that our sin has spoiled. But a relationship that His death for our sin has made possible. As the earth's life depends on its revolving around the sun, so our life depends on our revolving around the Son...of God.
I'm thanking God that life doesn't have to be a meaningless parade of days that replay the same old questions and the same old emptiness. On the day we step into the Relationship we were made for, we step into "more" God put us here for. And the search is over.