Let’s face it; we’ve all had George Bailey moments. In the depths of despair, at the end of our rope, and at the edge of a precipice, we’ve stood there and at least wondered, “why am I here?” Perhaps some of have even gone so far as to whisper that which George wished for just before jumping into the river to save a drowning man, “I wish I had never been born.”

How is it that a person can make such a wish of destruction seconds before risking every danger to save the life of a complete stranger? Here lies the secret reality of anguish: that from it, one can find life.

It sounds pretty weird, or at least ironic, doesn’t it? But it’s true! And I believe that’s the secret to shining light on our own dark moments.

We can be George Bailey and his angel Clarence at the same time!

We do not have to actively search for a chance to help someone in a moment of need; the need often presents itself without any effort on our part . And the need arises not just on our good days, but on our bad days, too.

The good deed is a choice – a step outside of ourselves, of our comfort zone, and even our own grief. Sometimes, it’s a leap into ice cold water, like George, to swim with someone else’s pain.

It’s the man on the Metro train on his way home from work, earbuds in his ears, who notices an elderly woman braving the crowd with a small, rolling suitcase and gently helps steer her and her belongings into a safe corner. It’s the woman in the checkout line who offers to assist the man in the motorized cart to lift his items onto the conveyer belt. It’s the boy who shovels snow on his sidewalk and the driveway of the single mother who lives next door.

We see these actions and we think these kind people have their lives together. But George proves that is not always the case.

You see, oftentimes those who reach out to a suffering soul are often suffering great trials themselves. They choose to look outside their own destruction to offer hope to another.

Wouldn’t we be surprised to know that the man on his way home from work with the earbuds had just been fired from his job? Or that the woman at the grocery store was minutes away from paying for her own groceries with food stamps? Our hearts would melt to learn that the boy who shoveled his neighbor’s sidewalks had lost his own mother in a tragic car accident a year ago.

That is what I mean when I say we can be George Bailey and Clarence at the same time! When choosing to swim with someone else in their pain, we unknowingly made our own sorrow a little lighter. We fight as a team in someone else’s battle, remembering that we too, are not alone. We tell the stranger, “hey, you’re WORTH it”. And like an echo from Heaven, we hear that same phrase come back to us – as an angel gets his wings. This is the secret to George Bailey’s anguish.

And something tells me, if we lingered long enough in the lives of the three people mentioned above, we would find other kind souls taking action in their lives. We would see a loving brother-in-law helping the jobless man rewrite his resume. We would see a stranger cover the remaining $4.37 of the woman’s grocery bill when her food stamps didn’t quite cover the bill. And if we followed the boy after he finished shoveling the driveway, we would watch a kind stranger pay for his cup of hot chocolate at a nearby café.

So the next time you feel like George Bailey, remember that even he – the man who wondered why he had been born – could offer the gift of his life to make someone else’s day a little brighter. Do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and be a light for someone else, even if you can barely see your own. Because together with another light, even the tiniest flame becomes bigger, stronger, and brighter.