PollyAnna The Glad Game
SO……..WHO’S HEARD OF POLLYANNA???
A BOOK (WRITTEN BY ELEANOR H. PORTER IN 1913), ABOUT A YOUNG ORPHAN – SENT TO A MISERABLE AUNT – WHO REJECTED HER AND DIDN’T WANT HER….
POLLYANNA DEVELOPED THE GLAD GAME (SOMETHING HER LATE DAD HAD TAUGHT HER), AND SHE CHOSE (!!!) TO SEE THE GOOD IN EVERY BAD SITUATION THAT CAME HER WAY!
THROUGH THIS INCREDIBLE “ATTITUDE”, SHE SINGLE-HANDEDLY TRANSFORMED HER AUNT, THE SERVANTS, AND THE COMMUNITY… EVERYONE WHOM SHE CAME IN CONTACT WITH…. IT WAS AN “IRREPRESSABLE” ATTITUDE OF JOY, AND OF THANKSGIVING!!! AN UNFAILING SENSE OF OPTIMISM!
Our CHOICES are KEY to our lives! There is ALWAYS a consequence… both good and bad…
I AM FULLY PERSUADED THAT “ATTITUDE” IS SOMETHING THE LORD LEAVES US TO CHOOSE!!!
When we CHOOSE to START each day with the Lord, welcoming the Holy Spirit into our day, BELIEVING that He is fully invested in us and everything we are going to choose to do THAT IS GOOD, we have a FAR better chance of accomplishing HIS WILL, rather than our own, which sometimes gives Him NO glory at all!!!
“ Do not be anxious about everything, but in EVERY situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6
My “Glad Game” goes like this:~
- I am SO grateful that the Lord got hold of me, shook some truth into my heart, and saved me!
- I am SO extremely grateful for my husband Mark!!
- I am SO VERY grateful for my beautiful daughter (who loves me in spite of myself!)
- I am SO grateful for our church, The Bridge!!!
- I am SO extremely grateful for my Canadian Citizenship…for my home, my EVERYTHING here!
- I am SO grateful for YOU!!!
What are YOU grateful for???
WHAT “HINDERS” OUR THANKSGIVING?
1. OFFENCES – Strips us of all praise and thanksgiving!
REVEREND AMES. – (A CALVANIST MIDWESTERN MINISTER), SAID:~“IT IS WORTH LIVING LONG ENOUGH TO OUTLAST WHATEVER SENSE OF GRIEVANCE YOU MAY ACQUIRE”…
2. NEGATIVITY – Cripples our “Spiritual posture”.
It takes LESS “energy” to be negative than it does to be positive, but as believers, we have the Holy Spirit resident in us, so we DO have the advantage of deferring to HIS spirit rather than to our own emotions… not so?!?!?!
3. COMPARISON – A Trap that compels us to turn inward – to focus on ourselves, what we think we lack, resulting in discontentment.
THANKFULNESS, ON THE OTHER HAND, COMPELS US TO TURN OUR ATTENTION TO OTHERS. IT’S LIKE A SALVE OVER A FRAGILE OR DAMAGED HEART.
WHEN WE ARE THANKFUL, WE DON’T SEE WHAT WE LACK. INSTEAD, WE SEE THE GENEROSITY AND FAITHFULNESS OF A GOOD FATHER AND ARE COMPELLED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS.
HOT TIP!!! JUST BEING YOUR “GOOD GODLY SELF” CAN ALERT THE WONDER IN SOMEONE WHO THINKS THAT JESUS ISNT’ FOR THEM!!!
I’M PRAYING THAT THE “POLLYANNA GLAD GAME” WILL STIR YOUR HEARTS, WILL ARREST SOME HEARTS, WILL INFUSE OUR HEARTS, TO BE THANKFUL…
WHAT MAKES FAITH FALL APART ISN’T DOUBT… IT’S BEING TOO CERTAIN OF THE WRONG THINGS!!!
Let’s make the “Glad Game” a powerful habit… to choose to search for the GOOD in our circumstances… to trust our Lord to show us…it works!!!