Our theme for this month: “You Gotta Keep Dancing”
Our Bible verse for today: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “Your life matters.”
Recently I was reminded about the great story told in the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”, starring Jimmy Stewart. The story is set in the mythical town of Bedford Falls in the 1930s and 40s. Stewart plays a man named George Bailey. George is a young man who reluctantly takes over running the small Savings and Loan bank owned by his recently deceased father.
George didn’t want to spend his life running a small bank in a small town. He dreamed of bigger things. He wanted to travel to interesting places and do exciting things. Instead he felt compelled to stay in Bedford Falls, carrying on his father’s work, because people depended on him. It was the same old boring thing, day-in-and-day-out. Worse, George had to contend with the scheming and maneuvering of old Mr. Potter, a competing businessman who was always trying to take over George’s bank.
George was depressed and unhappy; he was convinced his life didn’t matter much and really didn’t add up to anything. Finally he decided to kill himself. So he goes to a nearby bridge intending to jump off and end his life, but right at that moment God sent an awkward angel by the name of Clarence to stop him. George argues with Clarence, saying that his life doesn’t really matter and everyone would have been better off if he had never even been born. To prove him wrong, Clarence then leads George on an adventure through time to show him what the world would have been like if he had never lived.
George is stunned to discover that his beautiful and happy wife Mary never married and ended up being a lonely and unhappy spinster. His younger brother Harry died as a child because George had not been there to save his life. Consequently Harry wasn’t there in World War II to shoot down a kamikaze airplane. Instead it successfully sank a U.S. Navy ship, killing hundreds of men who therefore never lived their own lives and never fathered their children, resulting in even more generations who never even lived. The town of Bedford Falls became a seedy little dump instead of a pleasant home to many families, and it happened because George Bailey wasn’t there to stop Mr. Potter from swindling the people.
On and on it went. It turned out that the subtle but steady influence of George Bailey, lived out in a hundred small ways every day, had more of a positive impact than he had ever realized. George then knew that he needed to get back to his life and just keep doing what he had been doing.
The same is true for you. You have more of a positive impact on the people around you than you realize. As Ephesians 2:10 says, you are God’s masterpiece, created by Him to accomplish wonderful things planned long ago. Your job is to just be yourself; just faithfully keep doing what you’re supposed to do – and just keep dancing.
Oak Hill Baptist Church