Another year, another groundhog day

This is one of those holidays I really do not get. Why do we celebrate a rat (rat, groundhog, chihuahua, all the same...) coming out of its hole, looking around, and going back in? And why do we care if it sees its shadow or not?! But more importantly, the movie is a must see.

Quite un-coincidentally, groundhog day falls on the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, also known as Candlemas. Mary and Joesph bring their greatest gift, Jesus, before the Lord at the temple. Out of this presentation we get one of the three great canticles of the New Testament, the Canticle of Simeon.

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;

Your word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation

You have prepared in the sight of every people,

A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people, Israel

What are our gifts? How do we present these gifts to the Lord?

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This reminds me of a song I recently reheard recently. It is called The Gift by Garth Brooks. Being a country song, it has to be a story song, and being a Christmas song, it has to be about Christmas. The song is about a legend of the nightingale. The lyrics are:

A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day.
She stopped for to rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay.
A few moments passed 'til she saw it,
For its feathers were covered with sand.
But soon clean and wrapped it was traveling
In the warmth of Maria's small hand.

She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
And watched it grow stronger with time.

Now the Christmas Eve service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townsfolk brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense and perfumes
In packages fit for a king.
But for one ragged bird in a small cage,
Maria had nothing to bring.

She waited till just before mid-night
So no one would see her go in
And, crying, she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of him.

Then a voice spoke to her through the darkness,
"Maria, what brings you to me?
If the bird in the cage is your offering,
Open the door, let me see."
Though she trembled, she did as he asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new.

Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
As her offering was lifted to heaven
By the very first nightingale's song.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-R7Wcz1iv4)

This song made me realize how futile our efforts without God really are. Our very being, our gifts and talents, are from him, and only through glorifying him can those gifts be fully realized. Without God, our gifts are just birds with broken wings, but with him, our gifts can be as beautiful as nightingale's song.