It’s hard to believe this is the last day of the first month of the year.

That went quick. Or did it?

We all have different ways of looking at time. For some of us – usually the younger of us – it just crawls. Seems like what we are waiting for will never get here. For those of us who are older, the days fly past. There are times when we want to call a “time out” to slow things down a little.

I guess it depends on what you do with your time. Since Sunday is Groundhog Day, it reminded me of the movie by the same name. Bill Murray plays a sardonic weatherman sent to report on the weather prognostication by the furry animal, and gets caught up in a time loop – the same day keeps happening over and over again.

That movie has served as a kind of morality tale for us. How many of us feel that we are caught up in a time loop of our own, where it is the same old, same old, one day following the next, nothing new, nothing exciting? We can get caught up in sleep-walking through life, not expecting anything different, not anticipating much at all, and then wondering why did life get so dull?

But there are others who are always looking ahead to one event, thinking their lives will change dramatically when they get there – a wedding, the birth of a child, retirement. Something is always “out there” that promises to make everything different. But when we get there, we find nothing has changed at all.

That’s one of the reasons why I love the 118th Psalm, especially the verse proclaiming: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We read that Psalm during Easter, the great day of resurrection. But in the Christian faith, every day is filled with Easter possibilities.

It doesn’t have to be the same, old thing. There is always something new. Maybe we have to look for it (sometimes really hard), but it’s there. Maybe in the smile of someone. Maybe in a new insight. Maybe in a challenge that will spark our creativity. Maybe in an assurance that even when bad things happen, we can think differently and move ahead.

I hope 2020 has gotten off to a good start for you. But even if it hasn’t, the whole year doesn’t have to be that way.

New possibilities exist every day we live. Maybe what is needed is a reminder that we do not have to be entertained all the time. Facebook doesn’t have to confirm our worth.

Every person, every moment is touched and blessed by God. May we open not just our eyes but every part of ourselves to embrace it.

REV. DR. TOM ROBINSON is pastor of Farmville Presbyterian Church. He can be reached at pastorfpc@centurylink.net.