Revisiting The Glad Game

Friend,

When I was young, I had boundless energy, but my mother and father noticed that my enthusiasm and joy could easily get overshadowed by obstacles that I was facing. Whether it be learning difficulties, hospitalizations, illnesses, or other social struggles I faced, it could be easy to get down and discouraged by the lack of “normalcy” I had as a child. Looking back on it now, I lived such a wonderful childhood, but there were times I just couldn’t see the big picture blessings.

One day, when I was grumbling about something trivial, my mother thought it important to introduce my sister and me to the story of Pollyana. You may well know it from either the book written by Eleanor Porter back in 1913 or the movie adaptation released in 1960. As the story goes, Pollyana was a little girl who was raised by her missionary parents in a poor but a home filled with positivity. After she lost her parents as a young child, she was sent to live with her rich but cantankerous Aunt.

The large and lavish home Polyanna was placed in proved to have more things but less optimisim and kindness than she had grown up with. The discomfort of her new circumstances began to bring her down. One day, while Pollyana was sulking and grumbling about her circumstances, she was reminded of a precious memory she had from her time with her father.

Pollyana wished to receive a doll for Christmas, but the present that was sent to her was a pair crutches. She didn’t have a hurt leg,

nor was it what she had hoped for, yet her father took the crutches and held them up and said to his daughter, “let’s think of a reason to be glad!” Instantly, her creativity and optimism were sparked again. They laughed and found many reasons to be grateful like the simple fact that she was healthy and not in need of the crutches.

While her circumstances did not change at her new home with her aunt and uncle, she took that memory of the “Glad Game” and began to apply it to her daily life and encouraged the town to do the same with the obstacles they were facing. Her outlook on life through the lens of gratitude began to transform not just her own heart, but became a recipe to remove the grumbles in my own childhood by cultivating a THANKFUL HEART!

This week, I encourage you in the same way my mother used to do for use through our version of the Glad Game. When you feel down, discouraged, or paralyzed by the madness of the moment, Think of 5 Things to Be Thankful For. My Mom used to make us write our 5 Things down and put them in a prominent spot in our home so we would be reminded of our blessings throughout the day. At the end of the day, she would have us count our blessings once again and ask God to help us be cheerful while we were waiting for Him to meet our other needs.

Being thankful is not just something to practice once per year like during Thanksgiving Holiday in America. It is something we should be doing every day. Gratitude can be a community builder because positive people are far more enjoyable to be around than negative ones.

Going one step further, gratitude is the gateway drug for the rest of the fruits of the spirit to come flowing out of us. When we focus on the blessings in our life, our heart allows us to turn the focus off ourselves and onto others, helping them through love, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.

Here are some additional journal questions to consider this week:

What are 5 Things To Be Thankful For?

Can you think of anyone in your life that you could introduce The Glad Game to?

Going a step further, they say comparison thief of joy. Who or what do you need to stop comparing to?

Did you know, in the Greek Text of the Bible, the words “Giving Thanks” and “With Thanksgiving” are mentioned 72 times, and “Gratitude” or variations of it are mentioned 157 times? Can you think of any bible verses containing these phrases?

What do you think happens to us and our surroundings when we choose to gratitude over complaining?

(This one is difficult) . . . Anytime you say something negative about or to some one or something, stop right there and say 5 Nice Things. (Learning this behavior modification, will impact you and those in your home in positive way.)

I hope you have the most wonderful Thanksgiving this week! You are loved and I am thankful for you!

- Phil