Groundhog, Your Life Hangs By a Thread

Thank you all for the emails, phone calls, and comments I received in my last post. You guys blessed me so much with your encouragement -- thank you.

That post almost wasn't published. I deliberated for a while on whether to be that honest with y'all or just let the whole issue sit quietly in the shadows. It's easy to appreciate and applaud when someone else is brutally real on their blog, but it isn't so easy to risk that kind of honesty yourself. But after reading your responses, I'm glad I hit the Publish button. Through all of you, God once again showed Himself strong and faithful and loving. And that's something I wouldn't miss for anything. :)

And now, would someone please shoot the groundhog?

This groundhog, in case you're wondering:
(Photograph by Jason Cohn, Reuters)

Mr. Punxsutawney Phil, I don't want six more weeks of winter. Make another prediction like that and I'm gonna catch you, cook you, and eat you for dinner. Let's get with the program and announce an early spring, mkay??

Because I really want more of this:

I miss the sun. I need the sun.

Mr. Punxsutawney, are you reading this? Can you even read??

'Course deep down I know that you don't get the golden, green, sunny days without a whole lotta wet gray first:

You can't have one without the other. No rain, no pretty forests. Simple as that.

And given how utterly gorgeous today was . . .

. . . I probably shouldn't be complaining at all. We just might get that early spring here in the Pacific Northwest.

Mr. Punxsutawney, you may forage in peace. I forgive you and your dumb shadow, and the hunters won't come after you just yet. Maybe your predictions are for local weather anyway. Pennsylvannia is, after all, a long way from Washington.