“Why do groundhogs wake up each year in early February?”
A Penn State researcher says they might emerge from their dens in February, not to see how much more winter awaits, but in order to meet members of the opposite sex prior to mating season in March. The report is that boy groundhogs and girl groundhogs are not too much interested in one another for most of the year, but after a long winter’s hibernation, well…
So, the reason we have all this Groundhog Day hoopla has nothing to do with forecasting the weather. It is simply Punxsutawney Phil looking for Punxsutawney Phyllis. Hmm.
At this time of year, the words of Sr. Joyce Rupp, O.S.M. come to mind….
One winter morning, I awake to see the magnificent lines of frost stretching across my windowpanes. They seemed to rise with the sunshine and the bitter cold outside.
They looked like little miracles that had been formed in the dark of night. I watched them in sheer amazement, and marveled that such beautiful forms could be born during such a winter-cold night.
Yet, as I pondered them, I thought of how life is so like that. We live our long, worn days in the shadows, in what often feels like barren, cold winter, so unaware of the miracles that are being created in our spirits.
It takes the sudden daylight, some unexpected surprise of life, to cause our gaze to look upon a simple, stunning growth that has happened quietly inside us.
Like frost designs on a winter window, they bring us beyond life’s fragmentation and remind us that we are not nearly as lost as we thought we were, that all the time we thought we were dead inside, beautiful things were being born in us.
Special thanks to David Leininger and to Sr. Joyce Rupp, O.S.M.
What little miracles do YOU see like frost stretching across a windowpane?
I’M ALWAYS HAPPY FOR PEOPLE WHEN I SEE GOD BLESSING THEM THE WAY GOD HAS BLESSED ME!
Every day I record a Podcast of my Daily Treats. After you Click On the Underlined Title, Click On the White Triangle in the Turquoise Circle to LISTEN to today’s Message. Enjoy!
