The Glad Game

While at the library a couple of weeks ago I picked up an old paperback copy of  Pollyanna from the book sale table.  I had seen the movie when I was a kid, but had never read the book.

It’s the story of a orphan girl who goes to live with her spinster aunt who doesn’t really want her but feels it is her duty to take her in.  Pollyanna was taught by her minister father to play the “glad” game: always looking for something to be glad about in every situation.  She ends up teaching the entire town – even her aunt – to play the game.

I sometimes hear people making fun of Pollyanna – calling people who always seem (unrealistically optimistic by that name.  And I’ve been guilty of it myself.

But I realized as I was reading the book that the “glad game” is really quite Biblical.  Pollyanna’s father found over 800 “rejoicing texts” in the Bible.  The first one that comes to my mind is

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

There it is.  A direct command to play the “glad game”.   And a direct revelation of God’s will for our lives.

And then I found this in the devotional book I’ve been reading (The Quiet Place by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, for February 21):

“… we can manage to acquire just about anything that we’re determined to have. … But we need to be reminded  how dangerous it is to insist that God give us our own will.  In fact, one of my fears is that God will give me everything I want! …contentment is a choice.  True joy is not the result of having everything I want but of gratefully receiving exactly what God has given me. … The fact is, if we are not content with what we have, we will never be content with what we think we want.  The key to joyous living is to embrace the will of God and to receive with gratitude the gifts He chooses to give us in each season of life.”

Take some time to re-read that and ponder it.

God has given me opportunities in the last few weeks to practice playing the “glad game”.  I’m sure I haven’t been totally successful in every attempt, but I’ve been consciously choosing to stop the complaining (verbal and mental) and look for things to be glad about.  It really has helped me be more content and joyful and peaceful in my spirit.

Now, to go practice it with a fussy toddler and other children who aren’t feeling so well this week… :-)