cleveland, ohio is a place that looks the same in black and white and color photographs; it is a city of sharp contrasts and shades of grey; a single city that was once two, forevermore divided along east and west; where the Sun doesnt shine at all for half the year, and yet is one of the sunniest places in the USA for the other half; the birthplace of Superman and home to many an average joe; a place of tremendous creativity... home of many artists, musicans, actors and inventors -- and an otherwise hard-knuckle, provincial midwestern city; a place where people are friendly, helpful and generous... just don't get on their bad side; a place of hope and despair, where the light of Jesus shines in many an otherwise dark heart....

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Here's something I wrote at JenIg's blog.  I'm reposting here just to have something fresh to hang up here before Christmas.  In remarking about the Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life, Mrs. Ig concluded that "the movie gets it wrong in the end, because the value of a life is not measured by how much other people love you, but rather, it is measured by how much you love God and how you live that out by loving others."  Here's what I offered in return:

Jen, you're absolutely right about the point being how much we love God and show it by loving others. But I think that really *is* the point of "It's a Wonderful Life."

We can assume that George Baily is at least a nominal church-going Christian man because he's played by Jimmy Stewart and lives in small-town USA, circa 1947. If you look at George's life, it was one of self-sacrifice for others.

All George wanted was to leave Bedford Falls and see the world. But first he saved his kid brother from drowning and went deaf in one ear and could never be a war hero. He skipped his chance to go to the big city so that he could help his dad with the Building and Loan. He passed on the exciting hot babe to marry the girl who really loved him. He fought to serve his neighbors when Old Man Potter wanted to foreclose on the town.

At every turn, George gave up his personal dreams in exchange for selfless acts. But it seemed to him he poured out his life for nothing, that no one cared. He was hard pressed and stressed out at every turn. George sees his kid brother become a war hero and his old pal Sam become a big success in New York City, while he is stuck in a drafty old house with "too many kids." (Truthfully, when the heat's on, I think of that line all the time.)

Just as things get most desperate, George's idiot uncle loses all the money, and all hope appears to be lost with it. George was just about to give into despair, but before he can do it, Clarence jumps in first, giving George an opportunity to turn the final, ultimate selfish act into still another selfless act of giving.

I don't know, maybe this is just a "guy movie" but I can surely relate to seeing life pass you by, filled up with responsibilities and duties you never asked for, the dreams of youth long faded, and choking on envy as others close to you attain their own dreams.

One way to lay a Christian understanding onto this movie is see that George was given a gift, to see how God really did use him in his little place and time. WIthout George, Bedford Falls would have been Potterville. If George hadn't saved his brother, that whole platoon would have been wiped out. Without George's love, Mary would have been an unhappy spinster instead of a bright, happy young mom.

Our own minor acts of Christian devotion have a "butterfly effect" that ripple across the world. We are all tiny links in a huge chain forged by God. If we can see the effects of one man on the people of one small town, we might ponder the bigger picture... what would the world be without Jesus?

Sure, maybe this movie ends up on an air-headed Hollywood note that the greatest thing a man can have is friends. But who was the Friend who sent Clarence in the first place? Who was it that worked out the whole circumstance so that George would be singing "Auld Lang Syne" around the Christmas tree instead of lying on the bottom of the river, the worst sort of "present" that Mary and the kids could ever have?

Maybe we have to dig a little into the subtext, but I think we can find a wonderful picture of redemption in this Christmas classic.

Merry Christmas to your family!