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Every now and then I leave the house at the exact same time as my neighbors. Our driveways are literally 2 feet apart and when I encounter them, I typically give them a polite greeting before pulling on my helmet and starting my scooter.This morning the wife of this couple responded to my “Good morning, how’s it going?” with a “Yep, here we go again.”
My instantaneous response was, “Yeah, I guess we get another chance to get it right today.” And I smiled as I squashed my mop of hair into my helmet.
I didn’t plan the response. I think somehow I was subconsciously referencing the movie, “Groundhog Day.”
In the movie, Bill Murray is a weatherman sent to cover Punxsutawney Phil – the famous groundhog in Pennsylvania who predicts the beginning or delay of spring every year – on Groundhog Day. Trouble is, every day that Bill Murray wakes up after that day is Groundhog Day.
In the movie, he moves from taking advantage of the situation and wreaking havoc to growing bitter and suicidal. But by the end of the movie, that same day brings about a miraculous change in Murray. And the funny thing is that Murray actually brings change in that set in stone PREDICTABLE day.
So my response to her probably sounded like the most religious thing I’ve ever said if you’re a person who thinks of God as one of punishment and regiment. Actually I don’t see Him that way at all.
I guess I see life – predictable or unpredictable – as a place where God is ever present and where the desire of His heart is for what is already in His Kingdom to be so here right now in that moment.
But I think the problem is that we as broken people usually look around at life as a constant form of repetition at many levels oblivious to the fact that God’s presence is so near and He’s desiring to bring about change in us that changes the world. We’re guilty if we don’t see Him because He’s there. We’re guilty because we’ve accepted things as they are or we’ve accepted the lie that this natural world as we know it is how it is to be.
If we don’t see change – either in us or in the world around us – then it’s a sure sign that something is wrong.
The answer isn’t to seek change though. That’s backwards. The answer is to seek God. We seek God and change happens. We have no life to give the world if we aren’t receiving Life.
Maybe our prayers change, “God, here we go again, but I know that’s not your purpose.” Whatever you see in heaven, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. And whatever you see on earth that’s not that way, it’s got to stop. So how’s God choosing to bring that reality? Through us – today. Right now even.
You’ve got another chance today – that so-called predictable life of yours. God is so stubborn that He’s not going to give up on you. He wants to do something stunning and jaw-dropping and He just seems intent on not doing it without you.
So seek Him and say yes. And keep your eyes open to what He’s doing.
