It’s the holiday season.  “That time of year.”  And I’ve been thinking about a classic holiday movie in a new way. 

You remember the Jimmy Stewart character, George Bailey, in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  If you’ve seen the movie—maybe this year, again—you remember the gist of it.  George grows up in Bedford Falls, a small town he never quite manages to leave, despite his avowals to “shake off the dust” of that town and see the world, to embark on a big adventure and make something of himself “out there.”

What he winds up doing is inheriting his father’s perpetually struggling business, Bailey Savings and Loan, and serving customers that Mr. Potter, the greedy banker villain in the story, would never touch.  George gives them the loan they need to finance their dreams, however modest, of a fresh start, new career, small house, whatever.  Although he never admits it consciously, George has also inherited his father’s values, his fundamental respect for the dignity and dreams of the average person. 

And therein lies the near tragedy of the film—George’s lack of consciousness.  He nearly commits suicide—not really because of Mr. Potter’s thievery—that’s the surface trigger, a plot device, if you will.  The deeper cause?  He lacks consciousness of at least two things: his deeper values and his real impact on other people and on the town itself.  The “angel” who appears helps him with the latter, but what of the former? 

We never really know if George connects the dots—that it was his “living out” of his father’s values and his “providing for others that which he so valued for himself”—the opportunity to pursue one’s dreams— that led so many to come to his aid in the end.    

Suppose he did come to connect the dots?  And suppose he actually chose to consciously, deliberately, intentionally live his values in every domain of his life…including his business? 

What do you suppose would have happened?  For George?  His family?  Bailey Savings & Loan?  Bedford Falls?

I get a kick out of imagining a sequel to the movie.  And I’ll share my musings in a subsequent post. 

For now, though, I’m sitting with a different question: What might happen if I were to live more fully my own deeper values, my essential convictions?  For me?  My family?  My business?  The community?

If you’re so inclined, I invite you to take a few moments and consider the same this holiday season: What might happen if you were to more consciously, deliberately, intentionally embrace yours? 

What kind of wonderful might that look like?  What kind of wonderful might emerge?