Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. 1 John 5:21 NLT
After the last two days I’m not sure if we even care whether Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow or not. Of course the over foot and a half of snow that’s fallen may keep him from coming out at all! So to get your mind off the snow and subsequent clean up let me tell you about how a groundhog came to be so notable and how it relates it the cross.
For centuries people have used various animals to predict the weather, especially winter weather. Depending where you came from determined which animal would reveal what the coming winter will bring, For example in France and England, the prognisticators were bears, but in Germany it was the badger. When the German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania they didn’t find any badgers, but they did find lots of groundhogs. They studied the habits of the groundhogs and so the tradition was adapted to the new “Prince of Pronosticators” the groundhog. But tradition goes way beyond the habits of this animal, because the prediction comes from whether he sees his shadow or not. And it’s not such a good predictor, because he has only a 39% success rate.
But the true reason we celebrate groundhog day on February 2 is because of the astronimical occurance called cross-quarter day. It is the mid point between a solstice and an equinox. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it’s now the winter solsticce and spring equinox. It’s the halfway point of this season where there are approximately 6 weeks left until the official start of spring. It’s the time when people begin to celebrate light and life winning over darnkness and the opression of the cold. It’s called the hope of spring.
As I read this infromation I couldn’t help but think about the parallels spiritually. Just as the Germans used badgers and groundhogs to predict if there would be 6 weeks of winter or not, we have substitued the things of this world to tell us how to feel, what we see, what to think and use the knoweldge and wisdom of this world to make our plans. But just like astronomy, which studies the things that predict the seasons God has put in place, the truth is seen in the cross. No matter if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, there will still be about 6 weeks of winter left and in its time, spring will break forth, because God has set the seasons in motion, and the joy of spring will return.
Let’s stop looking to the things around us, and the predictions of the this world and look to what never changes and always gives us hope the cross of Jesus Christ for as Colossians 2:15 tells us “Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!” And now they are also ours for those who are followers of Jesus!
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