Pollyanna and Hidden Joys

This has been a "Pollyanna" month for me.  It started when we checked out the old Disney movie from the library.  I remember liking it as a child and thought it would be fun for my children to get to see it too.  We all enjoyed it and I started to think again about the sweet, simple lessons that Pollyanna teaches her little town with her "glad game". 

I know Pollyanna can be a little too sugary-sweet for some, but what is striking, especially in the books by Eleanor H. Porter, which I have also read this month, is that it's not easy for her.  It's not easy for any of us to find happiness and joy in everything.  There is real grief in this life.  Real reasons for lamentation and crying out to God in our distress.  Pollyanna knows this.  She doesn't pretend that the suffering isn't real.  In fact, as she got older, which you can read about in Pollyanna Grows Up, it was her compassion and sometimes even her difficulty in finding reasons to be glad that made her so dear to her friends and loved ones.

Is it right to try to find joy amid our suffering?  Is there reason to be thankful and to bless God's name even during times of severe trial?

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thes. 5:18

How many times are we told to "rejoice evermore", "rejoice always," and "again I say rejoice"?

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 107:1

And of course, there is Job, who as he sat grieving in sackloth and ashes was able to say, "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

I do think that we can see many examples in scripture where even in the darkest hours, there is a spirit of thankfulness, trusting that God is working all things together for our good.

So, it is silly to be thankful that you got crutches instead of the doll you wanted from the missionary barrel?  Pollyanna didn't want to be thankful, she wanted to be sad about not getting the doll she wanted, but she was able to at least be glad she didn't need those crutches.  The harder it was to find something to be glad in, the greater the satisfaction Pollyanna felt when she was able to accomplish it.

It might not be a perfect plan, and it certainly won't cure the grief and suffering that is in this fallen world, but what's the harm?  I'm going to try.  Are there really hidden joys in everything?  Maybe yes, and maybe no, but I'm going to try to find them.  I believe it's a worthwhile challenge.

In Pollyanna Grows Up: The Second Glad Book the following poem inspired a little wheelchair bound boy to take this very challenge.  When he read the first line he was angered.  Find pleasure in everything?  Even in a leaf?  Impossible!  So, he set out to prove the poem wrong.  He was certain he would find something in which there was nothing to be glad about.  He failed and thus began his "jolly book".  And he filled notebook after notebook with heartfelt thankfulness found in every little thing that crossed his path.

Hidden Joys by Laman Blanchard (1804–45)

Pleasures lie thickest, where no pleasures seem;
There's not a leaf that falls upon the ground
But holds some joy, of silence or of sound,
Some sprite begotten of a summer dream.

The very meanest things are made supreme
With innate ecstasy. No grain of sand
But moves a bright and million-peopled land,
And hath its Eden, and its Eves I deem.

For Love, though blind himself, a curious eye
Hath lent me, to behold the hearts of things,
And touched mine ear with power. Thus far or nigh,
Minute or mighty, fixed, or free with wings,
Delight from many a nameless covert sly
Peeps sparkling, and in tones familiar sings.