Game of Life

"The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." - William James

I decided I wanted to be friends with one of my ten year old campers when she was making me laugh so hard it hurt. She actually had just done a recap of the 5 most embarrassing things I had done at camp, starting with the Plumber incident. (you might recall that story from an old email.) I looked at her and thought to myself how I like hanging out with her and should do it in the future. We had such similar senses of humor and often I would start singing a song and she would join me even if she had never heard it before. I make up my own lyrics and songs all the time so we were quite a duet.

At one point we walked into our cabin and I started singing, "Oh when the saints go marching in, Oh when the saints go marching in, I will still be marching in LATE when the saints go marching in." She thought it was hilarious and started singing it with me and we started stomping around the cabin and when we walked up to each person she would say what they would still be doing. For the other girls it was always a nice characteristic about them like they will still be considerate or helpful, unlike my original negative one of always being late.

Other big revelations occurred which made me decide I should take the time to spend with her but those will have to wait for another story. As with most things it just kinda happened that it ended up being a group of us, myself and three girls one 9 yr old and two 10 yr olds. At camp I had realized that I am multi-ageall. (yeah I made it up, off of multi-lingual - speaking many languages).

--- Multi-ageall means I can pretty much fit in with any and all ages. From the young campers, to the teenage co-counselors and the other adults many of which were older than me, whatever age, I fit in just fine. My number of years never seemed to be an issue and I could relate to all the ages with ease. I can revert right back to immaturity in a heartbeat or did I ever really leave it... point to ponder.

Just the other day my little girl group was hanging out, deciding what we should do next and somebody suggested playing the game -Life. I instantly in a funny voice quipped something like, "Honey, I don't want to play the game Life, I live life every day and it ain't no fun game."

The one 9 year old looked at me intently, then understanding spread across her face as she got the joke and started laughing. She then was said, "Seriously, do you want to play Life."
Seriously, I didn't. I have never liked the game. I never chose to play it as a kid and in my household the only time the board ever came out was when my ever entrepreneurial brother used the spinning wheel of numbers for the game he made up called stock market. In that game you were to give him your allowance and based on the number he spun the stock market either rose or fell and you made more or less money accordingly. It was more like roulette and the house always won. But for brief moments you always had a little more money which made you want to keep playing the market until it crashed and game over your brother has all your deniro.


I told them I would watch them play and help, so they asked me to read the instructions out loud. You have to read the instructions to get the object of the game and learn how to win. They went something like this, first you have to decide if you want a career or to go to college. In a career you instantly get money but if you go to college you will make more money when you randomly pick a salary card. You have a car in which the plastic peg representing you travels around the board and if you decide to get married or have kids additional pegs are added to your car.

As you travel around the board you will land on squares that determine if you get tax breaks which give extra money or if you lose money for car accidents and such. All around the board if you land on certain squares you can get little multicolored "life" tiles randomly. The object of the game is to have the most money and most "life" tiles. Whoever has the most wins.

After reading the rules I said, "Ladies these rules just explained how you win at the game of Life. “How do you think you win in real life?" The ever quick 9 yr old instantly said that she thought it was a lot like the game that you had to go to college, have a family, make a lot of money and have a nice house and car and that is how you win in life. My little camper said yeah, I guess that sounds about right. The quite one in the group just shrugged her shoulders.
When I was telling this story to my sister she interrupted me here and said, "Looks like you are losing at life then." She followed up with one of those fast "just kiddings" but whatever, I told her let me finish the story.

You got to wait for it with kids sometimes, and then sure enough they all looked at me and said, "How do you think you win at life? Those are the moments that matter when they actually ask you a question and are ready to hear your answer and it's not just you droning on in the background like some boring soundtrack to their fast paced thoughts.

I looked at them each in turn and said I think what we are doing right now, this is how you win at life. When you just share your time, experience, life with friends, make new ones and show Jesus' love and how He lights up your life, that, in my opinion, is winning at life. It's not about nice houses and cars or how much money you make, those things don't really matter in God's eyes, it's about sharing Jesus' love with everyone and trying to be more like Him.

You didn't see Jesus being all about the dollar bills and rolling around in a chariot with rims. He was just hanging out, breaking bread with all kinds of people and sharing his wisdom, insight and most importantly His father's love.

My little camper instantly said I like your answer better, I change mine to that. And then they all said yeah, me too. Yippee, ding- ding- ding, you all are on your way to being Big Winners in the game of real life, because realizing what is important is the first step.

It might be worth remembering in these uncertain times when it seems like my brother is still in charge of the stock market and gas for your chariot can bankrupt you, what the Bible says:

Matthew 6:20-21”But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Heaven helped me 10/9/08
God bless you,
Love Always,
A*