It's A Wonderful Life

How fun those words are to say, when everything goes our way.

It's a wonderful life. Yea I'm thinking of that Christmas classic movie, where a guy who thinks he had it all, suddenly finds himself with nothing, with everything he planned going horrible wrong, and suddenly he wishes he wasn't alive anymore. And then through a series of self-discovery, he finds how wonderful life really is, even with the bad. It's a wonderful life.

Ever tried saying that when everything is messed up, plans gone awry, hopes you had dashed to pieces? Have you, as the tears poured down your face, the pain pressed up and crushing you, still had the courage and faith to whisper..."It's a wonderful life."?

Horatio Spafford was such a man. After a sailing accident at sea where 4 of his daughters died, Spafford still found faith and courage to say "It's a wonderful life" by writing a famous hymn called "It is well with my Soul". He could have sank in to depression, he could have been angry with God, he could have done a million other things than write that song. I don't have children, so I can't even begin to imagine the pain of loosing four of his daughters at once. That's inspiring.


Another man had a similar kind of courage and faith, even as death was approaching in the form of a bitter betrayal by a close friend. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' friend and disciple Judas Iscariot lead a group of soldiers to the garden in order to have him arrested and put to death. With a traitorous brotherly kiss from Judas, the soldiers lead Jesus away to be mocked, tried unfairly, and crucified by a cross which was a cruel Roman tradition for criminals at the time. Yet before all this happened, this is an excerpt of some of the words Jesus prayed while in the garden, knowing what approached. "Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”


So many times I'll struggle when things don't go my way. And then I'll find after that crummy part, that there was something better that I didn't see, and God was with me the whole way.

My hope is, that I can hold onto that idea even through the dry-spells, and the rough times. Sure its not going to be a 'wonderful' part of life; but to have that attitude during that crummy time, and to be able to press into Jesus and find that 'It is well with my soul'...now that would be a truly wonderful life.