It all comes down to a spindle--a broken one on the staircase of George Bailey’s house in It’s a Wonderful Life. It expresses everything that movie means to me.

As George moves up the stairs of his drafty ‘ole house, the spindle comes off in his hand. He curses, stomps, and  bitterly questions why they had to have “all these kids.” He is at his most honest and most hopeless.

George and the broken spindle is a powerful image of the times in our lives when we only see the cracks and scratches. 

I can relate to the need for an extreme makeover, I have a house built in the 50s. And it’s easy to focus on the little things I see every day that remind me of my frustration that nothing in life stays unscarred or intact. The spindle speaks volumes to our brokenness and eventual decay. And like George, we’d love to toss the sucker as far as the east is from the west. 

And yet, there is hope. What does hope mean from a Christian worldview? It’s a search we’ve been on for a long time in our writing community here at Art Within. How is it expressed in story? How do we communicate it to the world in authentic and fresh ways beyond all cliché?

It’s a Wonderful Life gives us some clues. Without giving away the entire ending, George ends up kissing the spindle! As he bounds up the stairs in the climax, looking for the kids and wife that are now precious to him, he reunites with the reminder of his brokenness. But this time, the spindle is a blessing: a reminder that life may have broken pieces, but these, too, are what makes life wonderful. 

Hope is defined in this transformation of George’s view of the spindle. Jesus gives me the hope that things can change, people can change, and perspectives can change. Isn’t that what we cling to—the hope that we can be transformed? In this daily muck of life, we don’t feel very changed because the process is so slow. We take one step back for every two steps forward.

Years of postmodern cynicism tell us that people cannot change. It’s a Wonderful Life tells us differently; it brings Hope back in vogue. The Christian God is one of transformation--no matter how slow or fast. This movie will be popular as long as we want to believe our lives can be transformed, that there is an abundant life, and that even the spindle can be redeemed. Why else would the tears flow during a show like Extreme Makeover: The Home Edition!  It’s hope. Hope that God can fix the wrecked homes of our life now, and that he has prepared a perfect home for us in the life to come.

If you pick up the new special edition of It's a Wonderful Life on DVD, or catch a showing on television this Christmas, watch it with the idea that Jesus came to give hope, and that this hope is found in new birth. He can change addictive habits. He can change wrong desires. He can change your spouse. He can change you to better love your spouse. The journey of George Bailey is yours in Jesus. He makes all things new--even broken spindles on the creaky stairs in the drafty house of our own wonderful life!

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Bryan Coley is the founder and Artistic Director of Art Within in Atlanta, Georgia, a nonprofit ministry dedicated to spiritually equipping the next generation of faith writers for all media. Visit their website at www.artwithin.org.