Pollyanna

The beach was an unpopular place to be yesterday. Off-shore the temperature was just about sixty when our family walked onto the sand. That means that at the oceanfront it was colder than that. The wind was blowing quite strongly – as you can see in the picture to the right. The waves crashed to the shore spraying water high into the air. The poor lifeguards that were on duty made themselves a little fort in the sand out of the beach umbrellas. They were covered in jackets with hoods, long pants and shoes. They looked more like they were working in the freezer section at Kroger than life guarding at the beach!

As we went to lunch I told the girls, “At least it’s not raining today! You know, it could even be snowing, but it’s not! We can be thankful for that!” Allison looked at me and said, “Mom, you sound like Pollyanna.” Whether she meant it as a compliment or not, I took it as one.

Pollyanna was a little girl in a movie that played “The Glad Game.” In any difficult or undesirable circumstance she would try to think of something for which she could be glad. When she found crutches in a box that was sent to her she was glad she didn’t need to use them! She was always searching for something for which she could be thankful.

People that love the Lord should be Pollyanna’s! In every thing give thanks…” is the command in I Thessalonians 5:18. Give thanks in all things. In other words, I am not necessarily thankful for the cold weather, but I need to have a thankful attitude in the midst of it. It’s an attitude that says, “Thank you, Lord, that I am away on vacation enjoying doing things different from my normal routine. Thank you that we are able to have lunch out today. Thank you for health and strength to be here…”

It’s so easy to complain…not so easy to be thankful when things don’t go the way we imagine they should. I’m preaching to my own heart today – my dream about warm sand on my toes and sitting by the pool reading is being traded for a warm jacket and bracing myself against the gusty winds. The forecast is looking not so much like beach vacation weather for the rest of the time we’re here. But I’m thankful the weather’s given me time to work on the new face for my blog! We played a new game as a family last night. I’m reading a library book at night before I fall asleep. All the pictures I’ve taken this week are safely in my computer and put on a scrap blog…all because the weather allowed me the time! This Pollyanna is determined not to whine, but be thankful!