Years ago, one of my friends was struggling with a chronic illness.  The girl was in bad shape, practically eating pain pills for breakfast just to make it through the day.  After a few years of living with her illness, she was adjusting —as much as you can when you’re hurting.  Her pain meds were managed well.  She had gone through some counseling which had really helped her and she finally seemed to be getting her life back.  She was moving on, even smiling more. She’d fought a hard fight and I admired her so much.

After watching her suffer so, I was super grateful and excited to reunite with her and a bunch of our girlfriends — I was  looking forward to being with her in her new normal. But, within a few hours together in the hotel, I realized one thing standing out as an old normal. And it wasn’t a good normal… it was damaging.

Even when she was well, my friend had been a fault finder. If she studied a masterpiece, she’d see the dust on the frame before noticing the expert play of light and shadow. She was the first to point out if something was off, could be better, or wasn’t up to her standard.

To be honest, I really thought that after three years of a life-altering illness that took her to the bottom of herself, her new normal would reveal a woman who was a little softer, more empathetic, and less critical. I was wrong.

We had met at a reunion of girlfriends and the weekend had been fabulous. Everyone had been so warm and kind, so you can imagine my surprise later when she described them to me as shallow. Weren’t we at the same place — with the same people? She was so critical and negative.

Our time together with friends had been glorious, but she saw no glory. Only fault.

And the reason? She wasn’t looking for glory, she was looking for faults.

I left our time together trying to explain it to myself. “It has to be the pain meds. It was the pain speaking, not her, right?” I can only imagine how much harder everything is for her being in such pain all the time — everything, including keeping a good attitude, has to be harder. But, sadly, the pain hadn’t caused her attitude, it had only magnified it.

She hadn’t found glory. Even in the tender moments and the sweetness of lifelong friends, she had only found fault.

The more I thought of my precious friend though, the more I saw myself.  I, too, can easily find faults instead of finding glory. Whether it’s for big reasons or for no reason at all, I can easily fall into a fault-finding habit.

When you’re a glory hunter, you look for glory. You are an active seeker of all that reveals the beauty of God.

I want to find glory, don’t you?

So what exactly is glory? Besides being a vague church word I sing in church and use in prayer, what is it? Is glory findable? Is it practical?

Glory is defined as: “magnificent or great beauty; a thing that is impressive or worthy of praise.”  When glory is used as a verb, it means we “take great pride or pleasure, or exalt in.”

But, my favorite definition of glory was coined by John Piper.  He says glory is, “the going public of God’s infinite worth.”

God publicizes His incredible worth every moment of every day in everything — simple things reveal glory; sad moments point to glory; a pile of laundry, a field of Poppies, a piece of chocolate… they all hint of glory!
No matter what we’re doing — whether it’s biting into an ordinary peanut butter & jelly sandwich or tasting crème brulee in a restaurant on Fifth Avenue, we can find fault, or we can find glory.

If we’re frustrated with someone we love, we can find fault or we can find glory.

When we choose joy over judgment, we find glory.

When we notice splendor even in simplicity, we find glory.

When we take pleasure in God’s presence, even while we’re in the thick of conflict, we can still find glory.

Do you want to be a woman who finds glory in everything and everyone?  How can we be women who hunt glory and overlook faults?

If you want to become a glory hunter, begin by asking yourself these questions:

1. What is impressive or beautiful in this person, object or situation?

There’s something good in everything and something good about everyone.  If you hone in on what is impressive instead of what is depressing, you will find glory.  Like The Survivor Tree at Ground Zero, beauty can and will stand out even in life’s darkest moments.  When you can find something impressive or beautiful, it transforms an ugly, dark or difficult situation into a stage where you can see God’s infinite worth going public!

2. What about this person, object or situation can I take pleasure in?

Even the most difficult people have at least one good quality.  And, it’s in that good quality you can take pleasure in! When you take pleasure in just one good thing, you will be more likely to find glory instead of finding fault.

For example, if you get caught in a downpour without your umbrella, you can either take it out on your husband who didn’t put the umbrella back in your car or you can take pleasure in your ability to sprint through the storm while you feel raindrops on your skin.

3. How can this person, object, or situation prompt me to praise God?

It just seems natural to grumble when something displeases us if we are fault finders. Glory Hunters don’t settle for what is natural though; they press in to what is supernatural. And praise is supernatural! Even your worst moments contain a reason to praise God. If Job could say, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15), then we don’t really have an excuse not to praise in every situation.  When you find something to praise God for, you will find glory!

Ask God to show you when you are finding fault in a person, situation or object and then use these questions to help you shift from being a Fault Finder into being a Glory Hunter!  The result will be beautiful!  And, there’s no limit on Glory Hunting! It’s open season, so go for it!

Do you want to be a woman who finds glory in everything and everyone? Share in comments below how you find glory!