Is it?

Is your life wonderful?

George Bailey’s life was.

But He didn’t see it.

All he saw was what he didn’t have.

He chose to view life through that lens.

The lens of what he didn’t have instead of what he possessed.

He had little material wealth.

His job was stressful as a loan officer in a small town, riding through the depression and WWII.

Yet through his control and influence, he seemed to hold things together.

Until his Uncle Billy, who lost the $8,000 on Christmas Eve, sent George over the edge.

Because he viewed his life considering his many problems, he was filled with despair when control slipped through his fingers.

God proceeded to teach him a lesson by way of his guardian angel Clarance.

George began walking through his town as if he had never been born.

That messed with him as he no longer saw love by giving or receiving it.

No wife, children, job, or legacy.

Even his friends no longer knew him.

When George saw all of this, he realized what was truly important, beyond the money crisis gripping his soul.

He had a precious family who loved him.

He had multiple friends.

He lived in a wonderful town.

And he mattered.

What lens do you look through to see your life?

Do you look past your blessings, gazing only upon your problems?

Or do you look past your problems, focusing instead on your blessings?

Guessing we won’t wake up tomorrow, looking at our life as if we never were.

Also guessing we won’t have a dream tonight that, like Scrooge, takes us into our past, present, and future dependent upon our present choices.

But we can decide to repurpose our new year, looking to God for our strength, wisdom, and peace.

We can walk in George’s shoes, realizing how material possessions simply do not matter when love is absent.

We can remind ourselves how every moment in our lives is placed by God.

And that we matter to not only God, but dozens, if not hundreds of other people.

This new year, walk with your head held high.

Connect with others and in the process, you’ll connect others to Him.

There is nothing else to do that really matters.

Photos by David Beale, Honey Fangs, & Ryan Wallace on Unsplash