Pollyanna

A couple of nights ago, we had a family movie night.  The girls chose to watch the movie "Pollyanna".  I still have the old VHS movie, we don't own the DVD.  We have hung on to it all these years because it is one of my all time favorites.  I love that little girl! I love her cheerful spirit, her willingness to help, and most of all, I love her attitude!  There is just something contagious about Pollyanna.  
I have been referred to as being a little "Pollyannaish" myself.  I think they might have meant that I could be unrealistic, and overly optimistic, or as someone I knew used to say, "you are so naive!  (What can I say, these were postal employees who called me that!)
This film is about a little girl whose parents were killed and she was sent to the states to live with an aunt.  Her aunt controls or owns nearly everything in the town.  When Pollyanna first comes to her new home, her aunt treats her as if she is someone to be tolerated and not loved.  
I love the scene when Pollyanna finds the reverend in the field practicing his "sermon" and tells him how her father taught her that there were over 800 happy texts in the Bible and if the Lord took the trouble to tell us over 800 times to be happy, then He must have meant it.  I also love the quote that Pollyanna wears on a necklace around her neck.  It was supposedly her father's and it says, "When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will."  No matter who said it, it remains true today.  
I have always loved this film.  To me, there are so many good principles in it.  I think if you look for the good, you can find that too.  It is all a matter of what your focus is.  I love the "glad" attitude that Pollyanna is famous for.  She teaches everyone in town her game.  That wonderful "glad game" when bad things happen, there is still something to be glad about.  I love the fact that on Sunday, you can be glad that it will be six whole days until Sunday comes around again!  (Not that I feel that way, I just like the possibility).  I like to think that Heavenly Father would want us to focus on being a happy people.  I think He wants us to know joy.  I think He would want us to be glad.


 "This is the day that the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24.)

It seems to me, as if the Lord would want us to find something to be glad about in the blessings He sends to us.  We all have trials and tribulations, but we also have moments of absolute joy and happiness.  I wonder which we remember more?  I wonder where our focus is?  Are we happy with what we have, or do we find fault with what He provides?  Is there gratitude and gladness in our souls today?
I think we all have a little Pollyanna inside ourselves waiting and even hoping, to come out.  We all have a little bit of gladness wanting to shine.  It is up to us not to fear the ridicule of those in the large and spacious building.  Sometimes, we just need to project a little gladness into the lives of those around us in order to bring forth the blessings.  

The following story is one I heard often in my Management courses in school:
"During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz.  I breezed through the questions until I read the last one:  "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"  Surely this was a joke.  I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name?  I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.  Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade.  "Absolutely," the professor said.  "In your careers, you will meet many people.  All are significant.  They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello."  I've never forgotten that lesson.  I also learned her name was Dorothy".  ~Joann C. Jones

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you, not because they are nice, but because you are!  May you each remember that Pollyanna can and does live inside you.  

Let her out and be GLAD today!

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.  Viktor E. Frankl