EVERY TIME A BELL RINGS
"I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow and the next day and next year and the year after that. I’m shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world!”, says George Bailey in the movie classic ,“It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Every Christmas, four generations of our family gather to immerse ourselves in the familiar comfort of a place called “Bedford Falls”. Although we travel through four decades in three hours, we leave there with full hearts, tear-stained cheeks, and renewed hope.
It is a holiday spiritual practice I strongly recommend.
For as we watch George wrestle between his lofty dreams and his beautifully ordinary life, we see our own struggle to grasp our greater purpose.
Because time here in this broken world is short and uncertain, we often run at breakneck speed to catch something that we can never quite put our finger on.
But with our eyes looking past the here and now, to an illusive somewhere else, we vacate the very place we were meant to see, and to be.
What if the very thing we are tearing apart our lives to find has been sitting out on our kitchen table all this time and we are so used to seeing it there, that we walk past it unaware?
One day, just like George, we will have the opportunity to see our own highlight reel while sitting shoulder to shoulder with Jesus, popcorn popped and buttered, and our souls diving into the screen. Quoting every line by heart, we will cringe at our failures, and sigh in relief at our victories.
And when the credits roll, we will realize that the great length, breadth, and width of our most ordinary days were edited by the Director to create a lasting classic to be watched and enjoyed for generations to come.
For the beauty of a simple, faithful life - well-lived and enjoyed in His Presence - is the greatest gift we can offer back to our God, our world, and ourselves.
Yes, one day, we will see what a wonderful life we had been given, but how much more wonderful would it be if we realized that truth today - while we are still living it?
“For in Him we live and move and have our being.”
Acts 17:28 niv