It's a Wonderful Life

A message for us all

Once again, on Christmas eve, we coaxed out some gentleness, some goodness and let it wash over us. This Christmas, the movie takes on an urgency, if you will. It becomes the reminder that life is more than what we see with our eyes. One small decision could change us, or those around us, forever.

What if I had never been born? What if I was blessed enough to see, like George Bailey did, what life would be like if I was never here in the first place?

Could and would God work around that anyway? Probably not. Because each of us is a unique individual, made with an intricate set of chromosomes and genetic material that is exclusive to just us. This is a purely intellectual conversation and I am not talking about DNA harvesting and all that mRNA BS that man is trying so hard to make so he can become God. These “men” have their just desserts coming and I can’t wait until those control freaks get it. But for now, we will be kind, gentle and retrospective and introspective.

I am the physical product of all those people who have gone before me. My ancestors. Every one of them, men and women, came together and made another human. I like to think everything that led up to my existence was love, always love. But, I can’t know and I will never know. So, the end product of all these couplings is human me. It is the creation of life by a man and a woman. If, somewhere along that long line of procreating people, grandma interrupted them, turned on the lights, a kid jumped into bed at a certain moment and killed the mood, or grancestor had a headache and declined to procreate, I would not be here. It is divine providence that I exist. What a delicate balance of creation. Of procreation. One little ill-timed release and I would never be here at all.

So, if I did not exist, then neither would my 2 children. My seven grandchildren would not exist either. And, my husband would be a lonely spinster librarian in Pottersville.

There would be a boy from Iowa who maybe would be sitting on a tractor farming, content or not, but missing a certain girl who would never have been born, except for me. And, he would not have 3 children. Or he might, but his trajectory would be far different than the one he is on now.

There would be a girl from Post Falls who would be an RN, or maybe not. She would not have 4 very sweet lovely daughters. And she might not ever know what a wonderful husband she had missed, because he had never been born. Because I hadn’t been born.

I am no George Bailey, where a whole town would be a modern Sodom and Gomorrah if I wasn’t ever here. I don’t think I have made that big of a difference in this world.

I think Hubs would have found someone to hitch himself with and had totally different children and maybe a totally different life. Did I drive this bus at all, his bus? I might have steered it a little, but one thing I did do for him…I was always his biggest fan. Whatever he decided to try, to do, I was behind him, 100%. My lot and calling in this life was to be his wife and the mother of our children. I was created for that and I am beyond blessed with ALL of it.

I do not know how my parents would have fared if I had never been born. I was the caboose. My brother is 10 years older than me and my sister is 14 years older. Both my grandmothers were strong women of God and prayer was a necessity in their impoverished lives. I never knew either grandfather. But, when my parents and I were in the car and we would pass a certain quaint church with stained glass windows and a steeple, I would always ask “Does God live in there?”. It was asked constantly from the time I could speak until I was 6 years old, and by that time, I had worn them down. They came back to serving the Lord in 1970. My nagging drove them into the arms of God once again. Yes, he could have brought them back to Him without me, of that there is no doubt.

And…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And we do. I have an amazing tribe that would not be here without me. That is the most obvious. Lives of my daughter-in-law and my son-in-law would be extremely different without my son and daughter’s existence.

My path has been winding and varied. I have lived in many places and talked to many people. Have I touched someone that might not have been touched otherwise? Did I make a difference to anyone? Will the world be a better place because I have been in it? I can’t even begin to answer that question. I do not keep in touch with those people who have seemingly been random in my life. I have not lived in Bedford Falls all my life. It really is a question that will never be answered in detail.

I can think back to one friend in particular that told Hubs and I that we were an inspiration to him and he thought of us often and we had really touched his life. And we had NO clue. We were just us…but in the process we made a huge impression upon him. He is now in heaven, gone too early. But, he made sure to tell us this a few years before he was taken. I think we both were in shock. We didn’t act any particular way around him or even know that we were making an impression, but we were. If I take one thing away from that part of my life, it is that someone is always watching. Looking. Comparing. Seeing. Hearing. And..we do the same thing to others. So, I make sure now that I let others know how they have touched me or what I have learned from them. I tell them the good stuff I have learned, been impressed with or seen in their lives. Just like Kris told us.

So, absent a visit from Clarence, I will be happy knowing that my life has worked out just as God planned. May the Mr. Potters of this world come to nothing and the George Baileys be blessed beyond measure, by God, by good friends, by children and grandchildren. And, may they bless all who come into contact with them, knowing or unknowing. Because, it really is a wonderful life.