What if you were never born?

Do you ever feel like you aren’t making a difference? Maybe you think you’re replaceable and anyone could do what you do. Maybe you feel like a failure. We all feel like that from time to time. For some of us it gets so bad we wish we’d never been born.
I was feeling that low this past Saturday evening when I was lying face down in pain in the middle of Cherry Street. I was almost finished hanging Christmas decorations in the Cherry Street trees when I fell off my ladder, made a gallant effort to regain my balance and hit the pavement – hard – face first.
I had just finished a stressful and not so happy week when my Christmas decoration injury occurred. So, Saturday evening I began to think . . . Is any of this worth it? Does anyone really care if I make the effort? Would anyone even notice if I had never moved to Donalsonville?
After feeling sorry for myself  and sinking pretty low for most of the night – when I looked in the mirror my face resembled an image from the original Rocky movie and the pain of blinking almost brought me to tears  – the image of George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life came into my mind.
He had so many things go wrong in his life that he actually wished he’d never been born. God gave him that wish and he found out just how many lives he had touched and just how important he was. He stopped a pharmacist from giving a boy poison instead of medicine. He saved his brother’s life in childhood and his brother later saved a couple hundred men in WWII. He helped hundreds of people afford good homes. He and his wife created a beautiful family that wouldn’t have existed without him.
It got me to thinking, what would be different if I had never been born? What would be different if you hadn’t been? We can’t know for sure, but we do know some things.
I know my two daughters, Kaylee and Caroline, would not exist and that’s enough of a reason for me to be born, right there. But, are there others out there who have been positively affected by my presence on this Earth? I certainly like to hope that is so.
My spirits began to improve as I began to think about all of my reasons for living and of the countless wonderful people in this community who have blessed me with the priceless gift of friendship. I realized what I already knew;  my life – the good and the bad – is indeed a wonderful life.
Spend just a little time thinking about this and you will begin to realize how many lives you have touched. Each life you’ve influenced created ripple effects that carry on across countless lives.
You do make a difference and we all need you to keep making a difference
As George Bailey’s angel, Clarence, put it, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
Ask yourself, how many lives will you make an impact on today and for the rest of your life?
You know, it really IS a wonderful life!