February 4, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, February 4.
Did you remember the holiday that was celebrated last Sunday? It was February 2, and that means it was Groundhog Day! In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, they pulled a furry little rodent named Phil out of his burrow, to see if he could see his shadow. The tradition started about 1840, but was connected to an ancient ceremony brought to America by German immigrants. If Phil sees his shadow - if the sun’s shining - there will be six more weeks of winter. Well, Sunday was sunny in Punxsutawney, so...
This highly technical scientific phenomenon is also repeated in Georgia, where a groundhog named General Beauregard Lee emerges from a burrow shaped like an antebellum mansion (I’m not making this stuff up!). He saw his shadow, too, so winter will continue till about March 20. Oh wait, that’s the vernal equinox - the first day of Spring. It’s all beginning to make sense - or “cents”, as it were. On Groundhog Day, more than 40,000 tourists descend on Punxsutawney - a town that, for the rest of the year, is about the size of Center, Texas (5,000). And this money-making tradition has only gotten bigger since 1998, with the premier of the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day”.
And so, In honor of Phil and Beauregard and Bill Murray, we revisit a famous chapter from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. It’s a passage that speaks of the changing of the seasons, and of our purpose here on earth.
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
