Sometimes we can't see how wonderful our lives really are, because we're in the midst of them. We don't see the ways in which we touch the lives of others. We don't see the past good we have done. We don't recognize that there are people who love and even rely on us. Instead, we only see our trials, our mistakes, our shortcomings, our flaws.
George Bailey was never able to do what he really wanted to do - he didn't go to college, travel Europe, get away from the Building and Loan... As a result, he was so preoccupied with his trials, with all that had gone wrong, that he couldn't see the wonderful blessings he had in his life, or all the good he had done. He even came to a point where he thought that the world would have been better without him. Clarence gave him the opportunity to see that world, and he didn't like it. What's more, he realized that everything he really wanted wasn't all the things he hadn't been able to do. Everything he always wanted he already had. It was at home with his wife and children. It was in the friendships he'd developed and in the good he'd been able to do for the people of Bedford Falls.
Life is difficult. It is hard work. Every reward, every relationship, every good thing we have doesn't come without some struggle - without some blood, sweat, or tears. Because if it does, it means nothing to us. We have a natural inclination to want to earn the things we have. But sometimes it seems the reward we're expecting never comes - that we work and wear out our lives for nothing, and we only see our trials. It is in those darkest moments that we should look to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is His birth we celebrate at this time of year. He is the light and life of the world. He can remind us of who we truly are, and how much we mean to Him and to those around us. He can show us that it is worth it, in the end.
"Each man's life touches so many other lives, and when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
I am so grateful for my wonderful family and friends. I am especially grateful for my wife - she is my strength and my support. May God bless you and your family this Christmas and always.
