It’s a Wonderful Life!
Something to think about…..
There comes a time in all our lives when we are faced with a decision that could be considered “that defining moment.”
I once heard this awesome quote, and it goes like this:
“It has been well said that a crisis never made any man; it only reveals what he already is.”
That statement, in my opinion, is true, but only if we allow it to be. I believe that there are defining moments in our lives where God will allow us to experience that test, that trial, that hardship, or that failure – not to cause us hardship, but to refocus our perspective on how we view the way we are living our life.
Here is an example of a “defining moment” for Phillip Van Doren Stern.
(Daytona Beach News-Journal)
It came to him in a dream, a story so stirring he remembered every detail the next morning. He was shaving when he mentioned it to his wife, and through the hot steam of the bathroom sink, she told him it was wonderful.
It was about a despondent, middle-aged man who stood atop a bridge on a snowy Christmas Eve and contemplated suicide. Suddenly, his guardian angel appeared and showed him what life would be like had he never been born. The man realized how many people he helped, how much better things were because of him, and suddenly, life wasn’t so bad after all.
Philip Van Doren Stern, a renowned Civil War historian and author, began to write the outline for his story in 1938, and though it took him five years to shape it, he knew it was certain to touch people. There was only one problem: The publishers wouldn’t touch his story.
So, in 1943, he took his book and wrote it as a 4,100-word, 21-page booklet that he sent out to 200 friends for Christmas. He called his story, The Greatest Gift.
The Author, Phillip Van Doren Stern, determined in his heart that he was not going to let rejection detour him away from his desire to publish his book. So instead of giving up, he readjusted his focus.
He altered his original writing and published a 21 page booklet himself and handed them out to 200 of his friends for Christmas. What happened next was God just being God and Phillip Stern keeping the vision alive.
That booklet came to the attention of RKO Pictures Producer, David Hempstead, who purchased the motion-picture rights for $10,000 in April of 1944.
After several screenwriters worked on adaptations, RKO sold the rights to the story in 1945 to Frank Capra’s production company for the same $10,000, which he adapted into the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
But what made Phillip Stern keep moving forward in spite of the numerous rejections from publishers?
I believe the answer is hidden inside the movie when we hear the angel, Clarence, say to George Bailey as he realized that suicide was not the answer:
“Strange isn’t it, George, how each man’s life touches so many others, and when he isn’t around, it leaves an awful hole.”
Before the crisis, a man will look at life one way, however afterwards and possibly forever, he will begin to see the whole world around him in a different way and possibly begin to see his life is truly “wonderful.”
I believe that you have been created by God and for God. That we have been given an opportunity to serve Him and bless others.
So, I want to encourage you today to give your life to Christ and trust Him. He truly is a God that loves and desires for you to begin seeing yourself as He sees you.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”Psalm 139:13-14
