The Glad Game

I have to confess, I am a pretty negative person. Can anyone relate? I try not to be- but so often my first reaction to a situation, even if it's not a bad one, is on the downside. But I've been learning this lesson I thought I'd share....

My brother Dave and I are in a stage production of a play called, "Pollyanna", right now. It's being performed in April but there's practices every week till then. We LOVE the theater, it's my favorite thing to do when we're not on the road with the band.

The play is based on a story about a little girl named Pollyanna and her "glad game" that she plays. It all started when she was very little and wanted a doll very badly. Her folks were missionaries out west (in the early 1900s) and poor as anything. The only way they obtained anything material was through the "missionary barrel"- donations sent in a barrel from churches back East. Well, the barrel came and there was no doll- just a pair of crutches. Little Pollyanna was crushed. Her father was very wise and said that if they could find something to be glad about they could play a new game... and Pollyanna loved games (perhaps from an absence of toys). But it was very hard when she was so disappointed. Finally it came to them- they could be glad that they didn't have to use the crutches! Her legs were perfect and strong! From then on, through the whole story, she plays the game. When both parents die and she's left alone; when she has to go live with her cranky, mean aunt Polly (played by yours truly! :) and when a terrible accident happens that changes everything. Time and again she struggles and fights to find something to be glad about.

So often I figure that unless I can change myself to think positive automatically, I will always be a negative person. But, like anything worthwhile, practice makes perfect. Even when our first reaction is, "oh how awful!" we can stop and think, 'what is there to be glad about?' It doesn't feel natural the first time, let me tell you! And I don't expect it will the next 50 times either... but even if we don't feel glad, we can make the choice to find something good in every situation. If we keep on practicing soon it will come so naturally that we won't even realize we are playing the game.

"There is ALWAYS a reason to be glad", is a quote from the story. I dare you to challenge that theory- try to find something to be glad about in EVERY hard situation that you face for a certain period of time- a week, even a day. Keep a journal and look back on it- tell me about it, I want to hear your stories! I don't think you'll be disappointed... :)

Oh, and by the way, if you'd like to come watch our play in April, you are invited! I'll post all the details sooner to the performance. :)

LOVE you all!
LM