Just finished watching the classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. How many times will I cry when I see it?

Hopefully every time. I need to be reminded of how much we are interconnected. I need God to continually show me how much He has authored this time in all our lives. He has purposely set each of us in this place, at this time because we are building and helping each other.

George Bailey is the main character of this movie, but each of us has experienced the sacrifice, disappointment, frustration and even hopelessness that he did.  Yet in the end, what George needed, what we need, is the perspective that our lives matter.

We all need to know that our story is not over or insignificant. Regardless of what we see when we look back over this past year or look forward to the prospects of 2010, we need to know that God is still working and writing and creating the story of our lives. And that those stories matter.

Our life story matters to the people around us. And it matters to God.  He is so pleased to reveal Himself in the day to day victories and defeats of our lives. Be encouraged.

Yours truly is a wonderful life. Today it is. Right now with all the unknowns and what-ifs and could-be’s. Let us finally come to the point of surrender that we cry out to God like George Bailey did, “God, I want to live. I want my life back. Please God, I want to live.”

“No man is a failure who has friends.”