Friday, October 31, 2008

It's a Wonderful Life!

Yesterday I did some major cleaning and rearranging of furniture in my living room, and when straightening up a bookshelf loaded with dvd's, I found my copy of "It's a Wonderful Life".


My top 3 favorite movies of all time are: 1. "Miracle on 34th St" (the one with Natalie Wood) 2. "It's a Wonderful Life", and 3. "White Christmas". They all bring back warm memories from my childhood, and they just don't make movies like those anymore!

There are two critical points in "It's a Wonderful Life" - the first is when Jimmy Stewart, as George Bailey, is suicidal, and is out on the bridge in the cold. He tells the Lord, "Father in Heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're out there and you hear me, I need your help, because I'm at the end of my rope".
The second critical segment in the movie is when after being shown what things would have been like had he not been born. He had taken for granted all the blessings the Lord had given him. His life had been spent chasing the dream of getting out of his little town, going out into the world and searching for happiness in travel and education. He ended up having to take over his father's sometimes failing business, and was bitter about that. He didn't have all the money and material things that some of his friends had; he didn't have the honors and acclamades that his brother had gotten, and deemed his life a failure. It was when he ran back to that same bridge, realizing that he did in fact, have a wonderful life, he again prayed. He said, "God, I want to live...I want to live".
He came to the point in his life of realizing his priorities had gotten out of line. His faithful wife had been supportive of him all those years, praying for him, and the children even asked her, "Should we pray for daddy"? as he ran out of the house on Christmas Eve, in a rage.
Life is good, even when times are tough - if we have our priorities right - putting God first, then everything else will fall in line.
What blessings in your wonderful life are you taking for granted? Is God your first priority, or are you running about chasing "things" to satisfy the void?
Take the time today to sit back and think about all the goodness and blessings the Lord has surrounded you with. You might not have as much as your friends, but I bet you have more than many in the world, who don't even have the basics of food and shelter as most of us do.


May the Lord bless you and keep you


May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you


May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace





Janelle

1 comment:

Something Nice and Pretty said...

I loved that Janelle, it's my favorite movie too, I needed to be reminded, thanks!
Rondell