Most people have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention "The Glad Game," but it's from the movie Pollyanna. In the movie, Pollyanna changes the lives of those around her by suggesting that they look for things to be glad about when times get tough. And, to do this, she plays something called "The Glad Game."
To play "The Glad Game" you simply examine the bad situation and look for the good in it. The game started for Pollyanna when she was living with her parents who were serving as missionaries. Being missionaries, they had to write and ask for anything they needed or wanted that was unavailable where they lived. Pollyanna wanted a doll, so her father wrote to ask for one. However, when the shipment arrived, a pair of crutches had been sent in place of the doll. So, her father invented "The Glad Game."
I'm guessing you'll see where this is headed. Her father told her not to be sad about not getting a doll but to be glad that she didn't need the crutches.
I guess this could seem like a delusional way of going through life, but there's something really satisfying about looking for the good rather than dwelling on the bad, even if the way you look for the good seems a little silly.
Lately I've been feeling a bit like Pollyanna. It really goes against my nature to do this, so you can imagine my discomfort. But, I think "The Glad Game," as silly as it may be, is a good way of thinking about spiritual discipline, and I think that it can teach us a lot about how we should interact with other people. If we look to Luke 6:27 and 28, we learn the following:
"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
I think that when we start doing those things, it changes the way we view difficult situations and it transforms the way we handle tough interactions with people. When you start loving people, blessing them, and praying for them, you really start using all things for good. It's very easy to look a a bad situation and see only the bad, and it's natural for us to do so. It takes more effort to play "The Glad Game" and to look for the good or, even more difficult, to find the blessings in hardship or to bless those who create that hardship.
But, I don't think we're always to do what comes easiest. Anger comes easy. Fear comes easy. Jealousy comes easy. But we don't want to live our lives in any of those, and, thankfully, we don't have to. We have the choice to work towards good, and if it takes playing "The Glad Game" to do it, I'm all for that!
1 comment:
I totally forgot about that movie! That was my favorite movie ever growing up!!!!
On other things you wrote: I tell my kids the same thing. Anger, rage, hurting people, being jealous, etc. is all easy stuff to do. It comes naturally. When we do that stuff, we look just like the world. But when we choose to do things God's way, and let God work in us, we act differently. We are loving when other would be hateful. We are kind when others would be jealous. We are helpful when others would be hurtful. We are generous when others would be stingy. That is what makes us different to the world. That is why we are to be set apart as God's holy people who live holy lives. Our lives should speak for themselves, and until they do, it doesn't matter much what our words might have to say.
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