Pollyanna

I was at the library the other day and the Masterpiece Theatre version of the movie Pollyanna caught my eye. I couldn't remember if I had ever seen that movie, so I snatched it up. We sat down to watch it. About half way through, Chet looked over at me, and asked if I had ever seen the movie before... because apparently she reminded him of me. At one point in the movie, the priest/pastor says that Pollyanna really impacted him one day because she started quoting all the "be glad" and "rejoice" verses in the Bible... there were 80-something of them... and he said that it immediately got his focus redirected. This in the middle of a long line of people who came to say that Pollyanna's attitude and "glad game" helped them get out of their funk.

I don't know whether or not I have that same impact on the people around me, but I am always looking for the sunny side of things. It sure helps, because I don't tend to stay down for very long if I get anxious or upset about something. And I tend to have pretty positive memories of most things because I can remember the parts to be thankful for. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm silly enough to repeat certain things in my life, but it does mean that I can be thankful even for the negative experiences because I've learned something (many times, I simply learn that I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN). Here are some of my more recent Pollyanna thoughts to give you a little picture of what goes on inside my head sometimes...

• If I have a lot of laundry to do (a perpetual issue), I try to remember that I should be thankful that I have a lot of laundry, because it means that we are blessed with a lot of clothes.
• Often the doctor tells me that my boys are underweight. Rather than freaking out that they're never going to have a single ripped muscle on their bodies, I like to remember that they're skinny because they prefer fruits and vegetables over meat and that they're being compared to a whole lot of kids whose most commonly consumed "vegetable" is french fries. Additionally, I appreciate their skinny size because they're a whole lot easier to carry and they can wear their shorts for YEARS (literally)!
• When Ladan wakes up scared in the middle of the night calling for me, I could get annoyed. Sometimes I do, but then I try to quickly remind myself that he won't always call for me if he's scared and that I should be thankful that he trusts me to help him.
• When I miss my dad or get bummed that the boys can't meet him, I tend to think first about whatever fun memory is on my mind, thank the Lord for it, and then thank God for all the things that have happened in our lives BECAUSE He took my dad. Many people have come to know the Lord more intimately (totally worth losing my dad for a little while if it means more people get to join us on the other side), we have been able to be here at seminary because Dad left us a bit of money (which will hopefully be a blessing to many more than just our family), I didn't have to watch my dad suffer in any way before he died, etc.
• When I sometimes feel like our 995 square feet get a bit cramped, I quickly become thankful that I don't have to clean more than this right now... and I'm thankful that I have a temperature-controlled shelter with indoor plumbing and windows as opposed to a 10x10 foot tent somewhere in the desert like millions of people in the world.

You get the point. So what are your Pollyanna thoughts? I'm always looking for new sunny sides, and you may have some I haven't thought of. Let me know if you think of any.

I'll leave you with a few photos from our last trip to Missouri. Ladan was making some hilarious faces! In the last one, you can see how curly and cute Gabe's hair gets. It's almost too long (because when the curl is starting to fall out, he just looks like a clown), but we can't bear to cut those curls off just yet.