Wednesday’s Word

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

I Wanna Be a Pollyanna!

Philippians 4:8: Finally, ________, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Welcome to Wednesday’s Word & Coffee Hour @ Chicklitpower and Trench Classes United! Grab whatever drink you have for your break, a journal for notes and your strand of faith and hopefully you’ll leave with a couple knots tied and your faith that much stronger.

Have you ever caught yourself focusing on what’s wrong in your life, or in someone else’s for that matter, or what’s wrong about another person and their actions, especially as they pertain to you, instead of all that is right? Why does it seem to be so much easier to focus on the wrong instead of the right? 

I don’t know about you but sometimes I can really be a negative Nelly. Funny, just writing about this is taking me back to when my mom used to call me Pollyanna! There were times she said it sarcastically – that was in our time of Exodus which was when I was 12 all the way to 49 -- but I’ll never forget the time she said it while she was in the hospital and I was coming to see her every day.

I was telling her she had to get better so we could spend time together when she got out, and she smiled the sweetest smile – something I had rarely seen – and said, “You are such a Pollyanna.” 

It caused me to stop what I was doing and look at her to confirm she was really being sweet…she was.

It wasn’t until later that I looked it up and it made me weep and I do mean weep. My tears turned on like a faucet full blast and humility washed me clean of all the years where I had misunderstood her. See, the definition for a Pollyanna is “an excessively cheerful or optimistic person”!

I never did get to discuss that with her because she never did make it out of the hospital, but, oh, how happy I was to be sad…for God had finally made right what was wrong all those years.

See, all those years I thought she was focusing on something negative about me which kept her from me and it wasn’t that at all.

How many times have we thought incredibly negative thoughts of someone just because of what we think they’re thinking of us?

 Ugh, I don’t know about you, but I’ve done that too many times to count. And I find myself in yet another difficult season with someone I love, my covenant partner, yes, my husband. Without letting you into every room and detail of our lives, let me just say that it’s a difficult season right now and I am having a difficult time being his Pollyanna!

And please don’t misunderstand  or misinterpret what I’m saying and how I’m using our scripture; God does not call us to be doormats for ANYONE; He does call us to get our focus on what is right about the situation, or about the person, and get it off of what’s wrong. He calls us to meditate on things that are true, noble and just – which may not describe the situation or the difficult person you are dealing with but there is ONE who is all of these things. He calls us to mediate on anything that is praiseworthy, on things of any virtue. Go ahead and put your name in that blank: Finally, ________, whatever is …

Friend, when we honestly seek our hearts and do this, we can honestly come up with something of virtue, something that is praiseworthy. I’ve truly been trying to practice this principle and I can honestly say my husband does have many positive virtues! See, though our circumstances are not ideal, and I have caught myself derailed by the propensity to pick apart any and all things he does wrong, this God-breathed command spoken to us through Paul reminds us to quit picking apart and looking for all that is wrong, for when we do focus on what is right, the guarantee we have is we will be changed!

When we are focusing on what’s wrong, we rarely have eyes to realize what’s right…and what’s right usually far out-weighs what’s wrong, especially when we let go of what’s wrong and let Him make it right!

How about you; are you a negative Nelly or a Pollyanna? When we chew on His principles and promises, we can’t help but allow them to change us into a Pollyanna!

Love and laughter,

Evinda