Last night, the Groundhog Day film I told you about was on TV, so I watched for a bit.  As Phil struggled to figure out what to do with his ever-repeating day, something occurred to me: Even though his response to the day changes over the course of the film—from frivolous fun, to the pursuit of romance, to acts of charity—Phil doesn’t really escape the cycle of the day until he stops trying so hard to win it.

The most obvious example is near the end, when he helps a homeless man—by taking him to the hospital one day or by buying him a warm meal on the next—Phil still ends up angry and frustrated by the fact that, each time, the old man still dies, that he can’t save him, no matter what he does for him.  Phil thinks the value of his effort is in the outcome, not in his actions; in the victory over his circumstances, rather than in his virtue under the circumstances.

I wonder: Do you find it hard to accept what seem to be bad outcomes, especially when you make a good and sincere effort to do the right thing?  A poor grade even when you studied hard; a loss in some sporting contest when you put in the work all season; an unkind response from a friend, even when you took the initiative to reconcile?

Today, it is quite popular to declare that we must “Win the day.”  Yet as much as we’d like to think so, winning the day isn’t really up to us.  The writer of Ecclesiastes observes, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”

We will be endlessly frustrated as long as we view victory as more important than virtue.  Live the day, don’t win it.  And…

Have a wonderful day.