If you haven't seen It's A Wonderful Life, I encourage you to. I saw it repeatedly while at the hospital giving birth to my oldest son, back in the days of no cable! He was born over Christmas. When I say over Christmas; I mean a days worth of labor
PBS was the only station that was on 24 hours because they played that movie back to back from Christmas Eve to Midnight Christmas Day. I've seen the move. And even so, I really like it.
It's a great story. One where it reminds us of how many lives we touch. How we've changed them and they've changed us. How different the world would be if it weren't for the people we've bumped into or rubbed shoulders with throughout our life.
One of my favorite parts is where George and Mary are walking home after the dance, singing "Buffalo Gals." He's telling her about his goals to leave the dust behind him from this old town and travel the world; she's admiring an old abandoned house that she romanticizes over, throws a rock at what's left of the windows and makes a wish.
He says, in the tune of Buffalo Gals "What'd you wish for when you threw that rock?"
She doesn't say.
He says: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
She says: I'll take it. Then what?
He says: Well, then you can swallow it, and it'll all dissolve, see... and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair... am I talking too much?
Am I talking too much? Hmmmmm.....
People talk too much don't they. Say too much. Say the wrong things. Hurtful things more times than good things. At least that's how it's been a lot of my life. I didn't grow up in the Bailey household. George and Mary weren't my parents. I think I would have liked that though. It seems as though they stuck together, worked things out, had a great community, had a good support system, had a guardian angel.
I didn't have those things, those people. A lot of my life I've experienced what I term "the wagging of tongues." Bad words, lack of encouragement. The message I received was, I'm too weak, I'm not good enough, I'm not......enough. This isn't for me, that isn't for me, I can't do this. Not only from my parents but from others. I began to be conditioned to think negatively about myself and about others. I began to be fearful about everything. Scared to try, Scared to fail. Scared to succeed, really.
After talking with a few of my friends over the past few days...weeks. It seems there's alot of tongue wagging going on. Maybe a lot of fear. Living in the fear bubble. Making what is said real; ingesting it and living as though the words are true about you and/or your circumstance.
It's like you've lasso'd the moon (words) and swallowed it....and it's all dissolve, see... and the moonbeams (words) would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair...
I did that. I swallowed the words and I made them real. And I lived out my life, my living and breathing and parenting and working and fellowshipping as though the words were real.
A sweet friend asked me recently, have you always been this confident. I said no, not by a long shot.
I don't know when I made the switch; when I stopped swallowing the words. I know it was a process of canceling the negative with the positive. In showing myself that I'm not those words, others thoughts or actions, I became more positive each day, more confident in myself. I had to "raise my deserve level".
You aren't others words, thoughts or actions either. You can make the choice today to stop swallowing the words. Even if you're plate is full, you don't have to eat it. Even if you take a bite, you can spit it out. Even if you ingest half the plate, guess what, you don't have to finish it!
Even if George Lasso's The Moon, you don't have to swallow it!
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