"It's A Wonderful Life"

“I bet it’s a warrant for my arrest. Isn’t it wonderful? I’m going to jail!”

That line never fails to make me laugh when I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” That sense of optimism may even be beyond me, and I am a VERY positive person…99% of the time. :)

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is my favorite holiday movie to watch…Well, it might even be my favorite movie of all-time, ranking up there with “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Both of these movies offer hope in the midst of despair…THE line from “The Shawshank Redemption” for me is, “Hope is a good thing.”

Then, there’s George Bailey, played by one of my favorite actors of all-time James Stewart, who drops to such levels of despair in one day that he contemplates suicide. Enter Clarence, his guardian angel who is trying to earn his wings. :)

Just as George is about to jump into the river, Clarence jumps in. George ends up jumping in to save Clarence, taking his mind off himself and his problems. As Clarence tells George, “I jumped into the river to save you.” And, he did. :)

Food for thought: How often do we think we are “saving” others, but maybe they are “saving” us?

No matter what is happening to/with/in us, life is still wonderful. It may not always be beautiful and mess-free, but it is still wonderful. Life is a gift. If we chose to see it that way and make the most of each day, doing something for others instead of dwelling on our own problems and insecurities, I can’t help but wonder what kind of place we would be living in?

Life may not always turn out the way we planned it, but if we leave ourselves open to where God is leading, we may encounter something so much better than we expected. George Bailey wanted to see the world, but instead gets stuck in the town of Bedford Falls, where he was born and raised. He wanted to leave it SOOO badly. But, he stayed, because something bigger than himself needed him. After the unexpected passing of his father, he stays (reluctantly) to run his business. If he wouldn’t have stayed, the people in the town would be living in poverty under the bitter Mr. Potter. The people in George’s life enrich it, and he enriches their lives.

I should be working on my Job presentation for Tuesday, but I needed to get the words that have been sitting on my heart after watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on NBC last night onto paper. You know, with everything that happened to Job, he could have “cursed God and died,” as his wife urges him to do in 2:9. He could have been sent away from his misery. But, he wanted his time with God, offering his complaint to God, as to why this was all happening.

It’s fair to ask “Why?” isn’t it? Trying to understand the situation? But, if we dwell there all the time, does anything ever get accomplished? Being God’s hands and feet in the world?

The other morning (3am, so you could consider it “night”), as I was getting ready for work, a special was on the Biography Channel on the TV show, “The Facts of Life.” So now, with all of this, the theme song is in my head: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life…”

Back to “It’s a Wonderful Life”…After George sees how life would have been without him ever being born, he pleads with God, “I want to live again…Please, God, let me live again.” And he does. How many people get a second chance? Something tells me that he would have lived life much richer and fuller, remembering to be appreciative. One would hope. :)

Connectedness…We are all truly connected. Have you ever wondered how life would be different if you wouldn’t have met a certain person? When George wishes he had never been born, and Clarence takes him on a tour of that life, it’s sobering…It’s really striking when George sees his brother Harry’s tombstone:

Clarence: [explaining] Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

George: That’s a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport!

Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.

Wow…That scene gets me every time as well. Here’s some of the other quotes from Clarence, summing up everything:

Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

You’ve been given a great gift, George. A chance to see what the world would be like without you.

You see, George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away?

Well said, Clarence…Life is wonderful. :) And, we are all connected (“He’s the Vine and We’re the Branches”…This is now in my head)…We are meant to be in a community…And, we may never know how our lives have impacted the lives of others. :)

As a sidenote, I noticed something that I never noticed before in the umpteen gazillion times I have watched this movie…Community is important, but where was the church in all this? A pastor? The community seems to be built around the building and loan that George works at…There’s a police officer…A taxi cab driver…A pharmacist…These people rally around George…But, where is the church?

People in a community living life together…Truly a rich experience. People fully invested in one another, helping one another…Do you think that’s the vision God has for His church? I ALWAYS get tears in my eyes, no matter how many times I see it, at the end of the movie, when everyone comes in to bring George money to help him out…As his younger brother, Billy, says in a toast, “To my big brother George, the richest man in town.” As Clarence writes in the book he gives to George, “Remember, George: No man is a failure who has friends.” :)

Thanks to all of you who make my life much richer…Now, let’s go out in the world and spread some WARM FUZZIES! :)