Christmas 2000

It's a Wonderful Life



"Each man's life touches so many other lives...
and when he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole."


... Clarence   

‘Tis the time of year one reflects and recalls
The time-honored lessons of old Bedford Falls.
Oh, you know the story, both simple and true…
How all that you give, one day comes back to you.

Now, I’m no Mary Hatch, and I’ve no Uncle Billy…
And, frankly, it seems to me sort of silly
To name a Cop “Bert” and a Cab Driver “Ernie,”
But that’s a sidetrack; let’s get back to our journey…

Back to a time and a place from the past
Where families and friendships were both forged to last.
Well, George Bailey was hurting, discouraged and broke,
And old Potter laughed as he said, “What a joke!”

But then it was Clarence the Angel came down
To help George see clearly his place in the town.
He said, “George, you’ve been blessed with a valuable role.
And if you hadn’t been, you’d have left quite a hole!”

Then an interesting concept… Clarence didn’t look first
To government programs where folks are coerced
To fund causes they question for folks they don’t know…
(who often aren’t satisfied still… and say so!)

No, he looked around at the town George loved best,
To the folks he’d befriended, folks he had blessed.
When old George was hurting, why did the folks care?
Let’s look at each one, and ask, “Why were YOU there?”

Bert & Ernie, and Violet, and old Mr. Gower…
Sam Wainwright came through as the man of the hour.
Hee! Haw! And a pocket of Sweet ZuZu’s petals!
Why, even the bank examiner settles!

George smiled through his tears at his children and Mary,
And all of his friends, and his kid brother, Harry.
“To my big brother, George…” came the now famous toast,
And what he said next, even Potter can’t boast…

Because Harry was right; his big brother went down
As the “richest man” ever to live in that town.
And even Sam Wainright’s riches weren’t able
To top that kind of wealth with his generous cable.

Tho’ George never gave Mary that grand honeymoon,
And he never quite managed to “lasso the moon,”
He finally reaped what he’d faithfully sown
From many long years at the Building & Loan.

Well our lesson is true, and our lesson is sweet,
But if it stops here, it isn’t complete.
‘Cause the real Christmas lesson eludes you, no doubt,
If you celebrate Christmas and leave Jesus out.

Can you just imagine the incredible hole…
If He hadn’t come… would be left in your soul?
And yet, He HAS come, but I wonder if still
Your hole remains empty, that He came to fill.

Oh, don’t be a Potter, who found himself lost
In earthly investments, not counting the cost.
The one thing that mattered, he just couldn’t buy…
Because Christ had to come, and Christ had to die.

I wonder, in heaven, when a bell rings,
If angels rejoice and every saint sings
Because just one soul found he too could afford
The “Wonderful Life” that is found in the Lord!

“… I am come that they might have LIFE,
and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)



Merry Christmas from the Hildebrand Family
Mark, Kathy, McKinley, Daniel & Markus


Some of our favorite lines/scenes from the movie: