“Until Then We’ll Have To Muddle Through Somehow,” a line from “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” acts as a point of departure for some thoughts on the value of creative improvisation, grit, and perseverance to our human existence.
Until Then We’ll Have To Muddle Through Somehow
I was listening to the radio in the car this afternoon and the Judy Garland version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” came on. The line “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow” really caught my attention so I did some research. It was originally written in 1943, the middle of World War 2, for “Meet Me in St. Louis” a 1944 movie starting Judy Garland. The song is wistful and bittersweet
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas“(original lyrics)
I find the lyrics realistic:
- “Next year all our troubles will be miles away” This too shall pass.
- “Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow.” We may not be masters of our fate, but we can treasure the memories of our faithful friends.
- “We’ll have to muddle through somehow” Creative improvisation, grit, and perseverance are intrinsic to our human existence.
It reminds me of the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling:
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
[…]
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
[…]
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’”Rudyard Kipling in “If” (c. 1895)
We watched Dr. Zhivago and Gone With the Wind this week. Two epic movies about people caught up in historic events that turn their lives upside down. Dr. Zhivago shows life before and after the Russian Revolution. Gone with the Wind begins in antebellum society and shows how a way of life was swept away by the American Civil War. Both movies provide a perspective on what the Chinese British Foreign Service meant when they offered the curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
A family tradition for the last decade or so has been watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It’s a fantastic film that shows key characters in a world with and without George Bailey. Although Bailey takes a while to realize the impact he has had in preventing Bedford Falls from becoming Pottersville, it’s clear to everyone around him the difference he has made in their lives. This realization triggers an outpouring of support that makes the closing scene so powerful for me.
We think we have lived through a revolution but compared to the Civil War, the Russian Revolution, or the Depression and World War 2, we have seen essentially uninterrupted prosperity. Come what may, we must continue to rely on strength of character and fundamental values to muddle through somehow.
“Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.[…]
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”Max Ehrmann “Desiderata” (1927)
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- The Messy Order of Robust Communities
- Chalk Talk: Sarasvathy’s Effectuation Model for Startups
- Corinne Roosevelt Robinson: Focus for Effect But Look Beyond Your Own Special Interests
- Howard Tullman on Distinguishing Mistakes From Failure
- While We Pursue Our Dreams, They Can Pursue Us
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PostScript – A Long Tweet by Tony Seruga
Every Christmas Eve, I think about George Bailey.
He dreamed of escaping Bedford Falls—of shaking off the dust of a small town, building skyscrapers, exploring the world. Instead, he stayed. He ran the Building & Loan his father left behind. He sacrificed his college money, his honeymoon savings, his chance to see the world, over and over, because people needed him.
By the time the crisis hits, George feels like a failure. His life looks like one long series of missed opportunities, thwarted ambitions, and quiet resentments. He stands on the bridge, convinced the world would be better without him.
Then Clarence shows him the truth: a Bedford Falls without George Bailey is a darker, meaner, hollowed-out place. The people he quietly helped, the small acts of integrity he performed without recognition, the risks he took to protect others—those weren’t detours. They were the substance of his life.
The film’s deepest insight isn’t just that “no man is a failure who has friends.” It’s that real impact is almost always invisible in the moment. The lives you steady, the small kindnesses you extend, the responsibilities you shoulder when no one else will—these things ripple outward in ways you may never see.
A strong sense of purpose doesn’t erase pain; it transforms it. It doesn’t merely explain why hard things happened. It asks: What are you now responsible for because they happened?
Faith, at its best, does the same. It doesn’t promise that everything was “meant to be” in order to make suffering palatable. It invites you to look at what has been entrusted to you in light of what you’ve endured.
George’s story reminds us that meaning is rarely found in the grand escape, but in the faithful presence. The dreams we surrender don’t always vanish—they often become the raw material for something more enduring than we imagined.
If you’re carrying the weight of roads not taken, of dreams deferred, of a life that feels smaller than you once hoped—watch It’s a Wonderful Life again tonight. Not as nostalgia, but as revelation.
You may not see the full difference you’ve made yet.
But it’s there.
And it matters more than you know.
Merry Christmas, friends.