At this time of year, I love to watch traditional Christmas movies, including A Christmas Carol—the Patrick Stewart and Muppets versions—The Nutcracker ballet, and Love, Actually. I also enjoy Little Women and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—films with broader themes that embody the true spirit of Christmas.
It’s a Wonderful Movie
But my favorite Christmas movie has to be the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Capra.
Although the hero, George Bailey, isn’t a cardboard saint, he does the right thing time and time again.
He’s a man with plans and dreams that don’t involve staying in his boring hometown of Bedford Falls. Yet he sets those dreams aside when his father dies unexpectedly and someone needs to take over the family savings and loan business to keep it out of the hands of the evil and avaricious banker Henry F. Potter.
Every time George thinks he will be able to resume his plans to attend college and travel to exotic vacation spots, another crisis arises. Every time, he agonizes over his choices and eventually makes the hard decision to remain in Bedford Falls to protect his family, friends, and neighbors.
Life Throws Us Curveballs
Doesn’t that sound like our lives too? We make plans, but life takes us down surprising paths. How we respond to those unwanted detours says a great deal about who we are deep inside.
George Bailey eventually embraces his role in life. He and his wife Mary raise four children, and their kindness and generosity earn them the love and respect of everyone in Bedford Falls.
Yet even George Bailey has his breaking point. In a moment of crisis, he wishes he had never been born.
George then receives a priceless gift: His Guardian Angel Clarence appears and grants his wish.
For George, the stakes are incredibly high. As he watches this alternate world unfold, he realizes how much his actions have influenced the people he loves: He isn’t around to save his brother’s life, so his brother cannot save the soldiers on the sinking transport ship. No one catches Mr. Gower’s error, so the pharmacist spends years in jail for inadvertently poisoning a child. George isn’t around to stand up to Mr. Potter, so the entire town falls under the banker’s influence, and people suffer endless hardships.
Our Own Moments of Truth
Perhaps the stakes in our lives are not as high as they are for George. But I have to believe—I do believe—that we each play a pivotal role as we pass through this world. As Clarence shows George, every person is irreplaceable, and we each have a unique role to play, a unique job to do. If we don’t do it, the job may not be done.
But we do not face these challenges alone. As much as I love the fanciful worlds of Santa and the Grinch and the Sugar Plum Fairy, I believe in my heart that the reason for the season centers around the birth of Jesus. I believe in my heart that he is the Son of God. So just as he sends help to George in A Wonderful Life, God sends us help when we need it most.
As you leave 2018 and embark into the unknown world of 2019, may your New Year be filled with abundant blessings. As Tiny Tim so memorably puts it: “God bless us, every one.”