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I finally watched 'It's a Wonderful Life' and my mom was right about one important thing
By Tommy Behnke
Published December 24, 2025
Believe it or not, but I just watched "It’s a Wonderful Life" all the way through for the first time.
If you’re looking for a Christmas movie that reminds you what the holiday is actually about, this is the one.
About 30 minutes in, my mom said, "This isn’t really a Christmas movie."
At that point in the film, I agreed. There were no elves, lights or Christmas trees.
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The movie "It's a Wonderful Life," was produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here, James Stewart as George Bailey considering suicide. Premiered December 20, 1946; theatrical wide release January 7, 1947. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
Don’t get me wrong — I, the guy who wears a different wacky Christmas shirt every day in December — love that stuff and always will! But this movie has deeper meaning, and if my mom hadn’t fallen asleep shortly thereafter, I’m sure she would have agreed.
The story of George Bailey is about gratitude for God’s blessings and learning to trust him, especially when life doesn’t go the way that you think it should.
Humanity’s faltering trust in God during the many trials of the Old Testament revealed the need for what God had long promised: Jesus coming from heaven to the manger we see in our Christmas displays — to die for our sins, restore our relationship with God and renew our trust in his greater plan.
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The film captures just how powerful that kind of trust can be.
George was intelligent and ambitious, dreaming of traveling the world, building great things and escaping his small town. That life never came. Instead, duty kept him home: he took over his family’s modest community bank after his father’s death, put others’ needs ahead of his own and watched friends live out his dreams.
Yet George and his happy-go-lucky wife, Mary, embraced the life they were given. They laughed a lot, raised their children to pray, treated everyone with love and respect and had immense gratitude for the home and family God had provided.
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But the real test came when missing $8,000 at the bank gave George unwanted attention from a bank examiner, a journalist and even the police. In despair, he even contemplated ending his life. That’s when he turned to God.
"Dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way," he said. "I’m at the end of my rope."
American actors James Stewart (1908-1997), as George Bailey, and Karolyn Grimes as his daughter Zuzu, in a scene from "It's a Wonderful Life," directed by Frank Capra, 1946. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
What followed is the core lesson of the movie.
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God didn’t simply hand George a solution. Instead, He showed him a world in which George had never been born: a darker, colder place where the people he’d quietly helped were lost and broken; his wife was alone, and his children never existed.
George realized that his life had mattered more than he realized and that, regardless of whether or not he could fix his financial troubles, he already possessed everything he truly needed.
When he returned to reality, he embraced his family and home with overflowing gratitude, entrusting the outcome of this small personal battle to God.
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Yet George and his happy-go-lucky wife, Mary, embraced the life they were given. They laughed a lot, raised their children to pray, treated everyone with love and respect and had immense gratitude for the home and family God had provided.
Then — and only then — did the final gift arrive: the community he had served poured out its love and support to save the bank.
"Ask and it will be given to you" doesn’t mean we get everything we think we need. It means God listens and ultimately provides what is truly required to fulfill his plans for us — often, only after we learn to trust Him first.
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Hardship still comes — layoffs, illness, loss — but it can be part of God’s larger mission, much of which is beyond human understanding. Like Job in the Old Testament, who endured unimaginable suffering without explanation yet was ultimately restored after more fully entrusting himself to God, George had his own moment of surrender. Only then did he recognize how richly blessed he already was. Only then did he recognize how richly blessed he already was.
"It's a Wonderful Life" was produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here, James Stewart, Donna Reed, Carl Switzer. (Everett)
So maybe my mom was right. "It’s a Wonderful Life" isn’t a Christmas movie in the modern, sentimental sense. It’s something bigger.
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If you’re not already planning on it, I highly recommend you watch it again this year.
I know I’ll be watching every December.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/i-finally-watched-its-wonderful-life-my-mom-right-about-one-important-thing