First and foremost, Merry Christmas!
You may have seen or at least heard of It’s a Wonderful Life, one of the greatest films of all time in its own right, and one of the greatest Christmas films. I recently saw it for the first time and saw what made it such a classic film. I won’t give away too much because I hope you watch it, but it’s about George Bailey – a man who longs to see the world and makes elaborate plans to do just that. He takes over his father’s business with his plans to see the world ever before him, but every time he tries to leave, something prevents him from doing so, usually because of the business. For context, George is a pillar of his community, not to mention its backbone – his presence is paramount to the town and many people in it, but George hits a breaking point (I won’t spoil what that is for you). Here is a slight and relevant spoiler: feeling overwhelmed and out of options and time, George seeks to end his life, believing his life to be of no consequence, but God does not let that happen.
Many of us have felt like George in that we have had our own plans and desires but for some reason, we just can’t seem to accomplish them, which makes us feels as though we are failing, behind, and stagnant while everyone else seems to be thriving.
George comes to a similar realization that I am sure we all have come to at one point or another: what we want is not always aligned with what God has for us and our flesh often prevents us from seeing or believing that. What we want feels urgent and necessary, but the calling God has for us is far more imperative simply because it is from Him. Not to mention that what we want is usually for the benefit and pleasure of us whereas what God has for us is for the benefit of others and serving a greater purpose than we initially anticipated. And like George, we may sometimes feel without hope and without purpose and as though the world no longer needs us, but like George, I pray you are brought back from the brink, freed from the bondage of that lie and that your hope is restored. God does not let George end his life, but instead, through an intermediary, illuminates to him the importance of his life and in that same manner, we, too, have an intercessor, and like George, your life matters, and there is a plan even if you can’t seem to grasp it now. Christmas is a time for hope and I understand if it doesn’t feel like it right now but please hold that thought.
This entire advent season, I’ve heard that quite a bit – that it just doesn’t feel like Christmas this year. There have been losses and tragedies and I don’t know about you, but I live in New York and it has barely snowed so it hasn’t looked much like Christmas either. But Christmas, for us Christians, at least has never been about the aesthetics and while I am not negating the very real pain some of us are feeling, I am challenging you to put some things in perspective as God did for George in order save his life and open his eyes. This entire advent season I have been asking God to help me embrace this season of joy, wonder, and miracles because that is what this season is about. It is about the greatest gift God has ever dispensed to man being born. The hope that his birth represents transcends all else because everything else – the pain we are grappling with, our disappointment with how this year has gone, and anything else we may be feeling is the very things He was born to deliver us from (Zephaniah 3:17; Matthew 11:28-29) and none of it can compare to the joy that shall be revealed within us (Romans 8:18).
This is an especially joyous and miraculous and hopeful time of year but I am challenging us to maintain that perspective all year round, to be reminded of and make use of the gift of Jesus Christ every single day.
We call this time miraculous because the Savior of the World was reincarnated as a man in the womb of a virgin, but my father reminds me that miracles can and do happen every day. A miracle is anything that God does because we certainly can’t do what He does; His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We wait for this time of year when in fact, we have access to all that this season brings us at all times, but we don’t serve a seasonal God. What makes this time special is knowing Christ is coming, and our spirits are being lifted by that hope and we maintain that hope by preserving the gift of Jesus Christ!
There is no blessing to wait for. He is already here and in His presence, there is fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore (Psalm 16:11), so it is my prayer that we rejoice in the fact that it is indeed a wonderful life – not because everything is perfect or because we know what we’re getting for Christmas or because we do not struggle, but because Our Savior, who has overcome this world, (John 16:33) is born. As the song says, take the name of Jesus with you, and may we remember on our lowest day and our lowest point, our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness and we dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name! May we all access the hope, freedom, and joy available to us through Christ. Merry Christmas!
