its a Wonderful Life

Saturday was not going well for me for some reason. I didn’t feel good, I was looking at the stack of bills that seems to never end, and trying to figure out where I was going to find a jar of blackberry preserves with seeds for the jam cake. The cake has to be made with blackberry preserves with seeds or it doesn’t taste right. So as I sat there moping, I noticed that It’s a Wonderful Life was starting on the television. I rarely watch TV so it was providential that the talking box was on or I would have missed it.

It’s the time of year when I watch all of Christmas favorites on TV. When I was a child it was always Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer and anything with Santa Claus in it. But my all time favorite is It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. I can watch that over and over and over again. I know some folks that love that movie like I do and I know a select few that would consider it torture to watch it. I have watched that movie so many times I can almost tell you the dialog word for word.

So I settled back wrapped snuggly in my blankie and a hanky for my eyes because I knew that I was in a good squall. Sure enough, watching poor old George Bailey deal with his ups and downs and waylaid dreams did not let me down. I wept when he wept, railed at old man Potter when he did and laughed and jumped for joy when I heard the bell ring for Clarence.

This is what I get out of watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Close your eyes and imagine with me. You wake up each day and find a beautifully wrapped package sitting on your bed. Out of curiosity, you rip open the gift before you do anything else because you want to know what is inside. Maybe you find something in the box that you don’t really care for so you just put it back in the box and set it aside, wondering what to do about it.

The next day you wake up to find another box sitting there and this time when you open it, there is something wonderful inside. It could be a card from someone far away, a memory of someone, a beautiful outfit you saw in a store, the keys to a fuel-efficient car, a warm coat, a job or a pretty flower from someone that is thinking about you.

This happens every day but you don’t realize it….every day when you wake up, it is there in front of you, a present sent to you by God….a whole day to use in the best way possible. Sometimes it comes with problems and issues that you don’t seem to be able to solve. Sometimes the present comes with sadness and deception and tears. Other times it comes full of happiness, success and achievements.

The important thing to remember is that every day you receive a present, wrapped up especially for you while you sleep. Today is your PRESENT. And the next day is another gift and you wake up to find that every morning is a PRESENT. It is the Present of Life.

Life is not always what you wished and hoped for…. God does give us what is best for you, what you need most, what you have to learn and what you need to grow mentally and spiritually. If you don’t receive the present you wanted today, wait until the next one and appreciate what you received today. Open your Present everyday by giving Thanks first to God who made you and second to the Son who gave you new birth…and do this before you find out what is in your box.

Tomorrow, when you wake up and open you present, do it with love and enthusiasm because one day your dreams and life plan will be inside that box and you will finally realize the riches that have been given to you. Life is not about what you want. It’s about what you need. And The Lord will gift you with a new present everyday.


Does life have a soundtrack or a script like the movies? Sometimes I think it does. Or maybe I just wish it did. Or perhaps I pretend it does just to make it through some of the things that life throws in my way.

In this economy there is going to be some hard times. People were counting on the Toyota jobs. What will the people that do that are being laid off from other factories? What is going to happen now? I don’t know. I don’t have a magic wand to wave. But I hope that each person can find the good in their Present and as for me…I am going to make my own blackberry preserves and bake my cake and then I am going to ring some bells so an angel somewhere will earn his wings.