IT'S AN AWFUL, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, LIFE

Greetings O Ye Fans of Life. Is your life WONDERFUL...full of WONDER, or is your life full of hopelessness, a constant stream of disappointments, and one dream after dream short circuited by situations, circumstances and derailments?

GODISNOWHERE. As you view this phrase...you will either see GOD IS NO WHERE...or you will see GOD IS NOW HERE. It all depends on your point of view. How you view what is happening in your life...will determine how you will deal with your life.

As I do a voyeuristic journey in Facebook...looking at pictures...reading comments...you can get a limited feel about your "friends" views of life. Some are positive, upbeat, lovin' life...while others whine, complain, grouse, about every little thing in their lives...and I am sure...a lot of it is warranted. As noted in the title of this Rambling..."IT'S AN AWFUL, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL LIFE..I have added the words AWFUL and BEAUTIFUL. One of my favorite songs is by Darryl Worley...whose song AWFUL, BEAUTIFUL LIFE has the line..."I love this crazy tragic...sometimes almost magic...awful, beautiful life." Add in the title from the movie It's A Wonderful Life...and you have an interesting perspective...that depending on how you view GODISNOWHERE...will as we said...will determine on how you deal with life.

Well...Tis Da Season...when one of my favorite movies is dragged out of the CHRIST-mas closet and makes it's rounds on T.V...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

The movie IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE originally had it's roots in a short story called THE GREATEST GIFT by Philip Van Doren Stern...that he made into a Christmas Card and sent to 200 friends and family members in 1943. Though a series of events...THE GREATEST GIFT fell into the hands of Frank Capra...who saw the potential to make a movie. It was made into a movie in 1946 that was initially considered a box office flop...even though it received 5 Oscar nominations (no wins). It became a Christmas Classic and is a personal favorite of Wayne "Zuzu's Petals" Berry.
NOTE: Have yourself a Berry Berry CHRIST-mas.

The liner notes in the IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A NOVEL states:

"Here is the timeless tale of George Bailey, a small town nobody who wants to make a difference without realizing that he already has...In its poignant and sensitive way....IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE encourages us to asks the question...what would life have been like wif we hadn't been born? During one CRISIS FILLED night, in the little town of Bedford Falls, circa 1945, George Bailey--father, husband, and president of the Bailey Building and Loan--facing the prospect of scandal ad ruin, finds out. With the not -quiet an angel Clarence (Angel 2nd class...no wings)...at his side to show him...George is given a gift anyone might wish for...to see the world as if he had never lived in it. As if he had never met his wife, saved his family's business, rescued his brother from drowning, or single-handed freed his lovely town from the greed and selfishness of a rich, old man (Mr. Potter).

George Bailey received a gift of a different perspective on his life.

George went from having dreams of a life...with constant interruptions and distractions where he becomes trapped in his not so wonderful life... to the point of despair and hopelessness...to the point of suicidal ideations...to the intervention by an angel...that was moved into motion by the prayers of those who loved George Bailey...to the point of reaching bottom...and crying out to God. The cause and effect of all of this was restoration to his family...and the realization that as Clarence wrote him..."Dear George...Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love Clarence."

Well...what a wonderful movie...with wonderful thoughts. Oh if we could only see beyond where we are...to see who we are in Him. Oh if we could only see smack dab in the middle of stuff that is happening to us...that God causes ALL THINGS (the good, the bad, and the ugly), to WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD...to him/her who (1) loves the Lord (2) are called according to HIS PURPOSE. (Romans 8:28) If we could only see...as Phil Keaggy's song off of his LOVE BROKE THROUGH album..."DISappointment...HISappointment."

GODISNOWHERE. Depending on how you view it...this AWFUL, BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL LIFE...can be lived to the fullest in the moment...even when bad is surrounding us. As I tell my patients when they don't FEEL...or SEE any improvement..."You are to close to your situation... and you can't see the progress that you are making." Family, friends, and in my case the Speech Pathologist...sees from a different perspective.

Love and Wonderful Life Kisses
Rodney "God is NOW Here" Boyd