“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9

People Who Love People

Walk His Way Revisited

First Posted March, 2014

For a few years, long ago, I worked with Pollyanna.

You remember that old book and movie, don’t you? Pollyanna was a little girl who had plenty of reasons to be callous about life. She’d had it rough, but she came up smiling. She always looked for the good in everyone. She knew that deep down inside of every cranky old man or bitter old woman, there was a gem of beauty to be found. Pollyanna believed that everyone had something about him or her that was lovable. Everyone could be a friend. No one was beyond help.

The Pollyanna I worked with taught me so much, and I am forever in her debt for this. I am not, by nature, a person who seeks out the good in others. I take them at face value, and it takes a work of the Holy Spirit in me before I can hang in there with difficult people long enough to see what God has placed in them. My co-worker never gave up hope in Him. (This is key: it isn’t having hope that a person will finally change; it is hope in God.)

My Pollyanna was someone who could take virtually any situation and believe God for it. (This is the gift of faith!) She believed everyone was worthy of respect—maybe not deserving, but worthy. Every man, woman, and child was met with a smile, cheeriness, and openness. Her life was open to anyone God brought to her. She did not stand away from people, closed off, unsmiling. Her arms were literally open every time I saw her.

You might think to yourself, “Boy, she must have it easy. No real problems. Nothing nagging at her mind. Nothing depressing, nothing to drag her down or distract her from all this joy. Things would be different if she had mylife….”

But my Pollyanna was married to an angry, drug-addicted alcoholic. My Pollyanna had to quit all social activities to care for an aging relative. My Pollyanna had to sell her house to pay off the bills that stacked up when her husband wouldn’t or couldn’t work. The pressure was tremendous, for if she got sick or injured, the family would have nothing. She raised godly children in this environment. How she must have prayed!

These things made her strong in the Lord, for it was to Him that she turned. She found Jesus faithful when her husband abandoned her. She found Jesus strong when she was at her weakest and most exhausted. She found that Jesus would comfort her when her tears would not stop. She found that His Word stayed true and unchanging when others around her lied and deceived her.

She lived her faith. I would do well to emulate her.

Father, help me live like my friend lives, loving people in spite of how they look, talk, smell, or behave. Help me to believe that what You say about people is more important than how I feel about them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.