Game of Life

I was talked into playing The Game of Life this past weekend with "the fam" before I had to leave the land of dial-up and make the trek home.  Now I know I've played the game before, but it's been a long, long time.  Wow.  So many choices.  So many paths to take.  So many things that could potentially change the entire course of the game.  And so much of it was dependant purely on chance...spinning the right number...landing on the right spaces...hoping no one would sue you..."investing" money to try to land a windfall. 

Most of the players involved had goals set for themselves at the onset of the game.  Of course, the whole point for everyone was to ultimately try to win, but everyone had a different strategy, and "winning" wasn't necessarily everything.  One player wanted to live in the smallest home and get the best paying job possible in order to gather as much cash as possible along the way.  Another player just wanted to land on all the baby spaces so their car would be filled with children.  And as for me, well...I just wanted to play the game as quickly as possible so I didn't end up leaving too late.  haha

Well, let's just say that out of those three "goals", the only plan that actually ended up panning out was the cash hoarder who ended up eventually winning! Surprise...that's life, right? We all tend to have similar long term goals. We all want to "win" in the end, right? But, for the most part, what constitutes "winning" is going to look different to everyone. Some people want to do it all and have it all and collect as much cash as possible along the way. To live it up. To experience as much as possible. Other people want to settle down, get married, and have children. Their lives are absorbed in family and relationships and the security of familiarity and home. And then there are people who don't really have any goals and float through life. They're not really in it to win it; they're just trying to make it through and make it to the end so it can be over.

How often does life not pan out the way we planned?  How often do we take one path, and seem to always land on the wrong spaces?  How often do we want to live a certain way and accomplish certain things along the way, and luck of the draw just doesn't seem to be cooperating.  Life seems to refuse to line up with your expectations.

In this weekend's game, the player whose whole goal was to land on as many "kid spaces" as possible...of course, she didn't end up landing on any at all.  The most hilarious part was that I could have cared less about the kids, and somehow I ended up with an entire car full!!  Actually, I ended up with so many children that I ran out of room in my car.  So I sent my only "girl" to go ride in her auntie's childless vehicle.  I got free babysitting out of the deal at least!!  And seriously, my whole goal of getting through the game quickly was totally blown out of the water, too.  The one hour game turned into two, which had to be followed up by a two hour drive home.  Fail.

Life may seem like a game at times, but it's really not.  And to treat it as such simply leads to one disappointment, failure, and unmet expectation after another.  I don't know about you, but I don't like losing.  I don't like making plans and not having them work out.  I don't like picking up the pieces after watching yet another dream get crushed. 

The only real strategy that I've seen pan out is when I've surrendered all of my goals to God, given up control, and put all my efforts into running hard after Him.  He's guaranteed that we will win if we do so.  He's promised that we will win eternal life with Him.

So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.   

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.