“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?” ~ Clarence the Angel, It’s A Wonderful Life
Yesterday, through the kindness and generosity of a parishioner, I was able to go to our local Center for the Performing Arts and watch the musical, “It’s A Wonderful Life”. It made me remember the movie that so many people watch every year around Christmas.
To jog your memory — or to inform you if you have never seen the movie — the story is about a man, George, brought to the pit of despair and who is seriously considering committing suicide. Up in heaven, an angel who has been trying desperately for over two hundred years to earn his wings, is given the job to help George.
George has the opportunity to see what life for the people he truly loved would have been like if he never existed. George came to realize that he was not a failure, that he brought something the lives of so many people and that he had the opportunity to continue doing so.
There are many times in our lives when we feel that we have made no real difference in the world. We become downcast and feel that the world might have been better off without us. That is not the case, though.
If the world would have been better off without us, God would not have called us into existence. The very fact that we are here on earth means that God has a plan for us and something that He wants us to accomplish. Our lives have meaning. Therein lies our hope.
The holidays can be a time of disappointment and depression for many. If the approaching holidays are getting you down, try to focus upon the love of God who created you for a noble purpose and who will not let you down.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for those who are so discouraged that they feel ending their lives is the best choice to make. Ask God to give them the help they need to know that they are special in His eyes.