George Bailey Moments

I'm sure if you're like most people you've heard about if not seen the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life!". It comes out every Christmas and was created by Frank Capra during the 1940's. It's funny because it wasn't designed as a Christmas movie but over time, the profound message to be found gleaned within is that when it's all said and done, our lives are pretty wonderful. Sometimes we just need a closer look. That's just what happens to George Bailey in the movie.

If you've never had the pleasure to enjoy this classic, you want to make sure you pick it up or perhaps rent it from your local video retailer. In this movie, George Bailey has always did the right thing in life, and most of the time it was to the benefit of someone else. George got the credit but someone else got the prize. George saved his brother, Harry from a fall into the ice while sledding. Harry's life was spared but in the process, George lost the hearing in one ear. Another time, George was going to head off to college but when his father has a stroke and dies, the Bailey Building and Loan, created and run by George's father is about to be sold to Mr. Potter, the wealthiest and stingiest man in town. George knows that if it wasn't for the loans his father provided for most of the town's residents, Mr. Potter would have placed them in run-down tenements and charged them more money than they were worth. So George forfeits leaving for college and instead sends his brother Harry while he sees to the Bailey Building and Loan until Harry is finished. However as luck would have it, Harry meets a young woman who's father is well to do and is offering Harry a great job. George knows he can't stand in the way of true happiness and once more concedes to do the honorable thing.

When George finds himself down on his luck, he feels life has finally caught up with him and knows he is worth more dead than alive. Unable to save himself from jail, and scandal, George offers up a prayer to the heavens asking God to show him what his life would be like if things were different and then attempts to jump from a bridge into a icy river. As luck would have it, God's got plans for George Bailey and grants him just such an answer to prayer. He provides George the opportunity to see that his life would be like if he'd never been born. To George's surprise, he never realized how his actions lead to more significant ones and the lives of the people he knows and even his own town and family all have a much more wonderful life with George in it.

I sometimes often wonder what our lives would be like, if God answered us with our own George Bailey moment. To see how our life makes a difference in the lives of the people we interact and deal with daily. Sometimes I believe it's just what we need to shake us from our dull ruts we find ourselves trapped in. Doing the same thing over and over and yet wondering why our lives never get any better and we never move ahead. Could be the saying that finds its way to my lips so often. "If nothing changes, NOTHING changes!"

I think we need to stop and think about all the things in our lives that are going great instead of dwelling on the ones that aren't. I think we need to stop taking advantage of people and staying showing more respect to people. We need to stop believing we are entitled to anything and start trying to find out what our part is that are supposed to play in this role of a lifetime. I believe we need to stop complaining, judging, pointing fingers and get busy doing what's right, no matter what people think or who is or isn't watching. The most important person of all is watching and that's God. When it's all over and done, God will be asking not what we have done with our time, but who have we served, how have we given back, how have we made this place a better one because we were in it. Not what's in it for us, but what's in it for the betterment of someone else. After all isn't that truly what makes this life, a wonderful one after all?

Think about that and reflect on your own George Bailey moment, would you like what you see or would you like the opportunity to change it before it's too late?