Tomorrow is Groundhog day and the giant rat up in Pennsylvania will tell us that we’re either in for an early spring for we’re in for six more weeks of winter. Nevermind the fact that he’s only been right 39% of the time in the past century.
Every year it’s the same thing. Newspeople from all over the country descend on Punxsutawney, PA to listen to the prognostication of Phil the…beaver? platypus? I forget. Either way, it’s a silly tradition for silly people. And every year the same thing happens: When he predicts a longer winter people fret and when he predicts an early spring people rejoice. Why? Don’t they know the varmint can’t actually predict anything? Yes, but in the moment people don’t care. We project our wishes onto the giant squirrel and lie to ourselves.
It’s not the only time we do that, either.
Sociologists say that your brain releases the same endorphins whenever you “window shop” as when you buy something. The same thing happens when you watch a cooking show: The same sensations you experience when you smell a home-cooked meal in your kitchen are experienced when you watch a youtube video of someone pulling a turkey out of the oven. Our brains are funny, complex things.
I can’t actually satisfy my appetite with a youtube video, though. I can only trick my brain to an extent. I also can’t predict the weather by way of an oversized ferret. It’s just a game we play every February.
I want the real deal.
So I will trust in the God who commands nature both by design and by His Will. I will trust in the God who satisfies my longings. He’s the real deal, and genuine article, and is far more reliable than some celebrity badger.
~ Matthew