There Are No More Moves

I'm a solitaire person mostly, but I've been playing other games on my computer when I have no internet access but need something that does not require a lot of thought. At some point, in some games, you find yourself repeating the same actions, hitting the deck over and over again hoping a new card will show up that you can actually use. Eventually the computer picks up on it and sends you a pop up saying “There are no more moves” and you can either stay and undo a few moves to see if you can do something different or just start a new game, freshly shuffled with a new set up of the cards.

Gee, wouldn't it be nice if life did that sometimes? If something just hit us in the face saying, “there are no more moves, it is time to move on.” We don't even notice it sometimes then we find ourselves beating a dead horse, repeating the same mistakes over and over again. There are not any “undo” buttons in life. You do an action, maybe make a mistake, and then you deal with the consequences, good or bad. We keep looking through the deck, trying to find the same answer that maybe worked a different time, but only finding the same things that are of no use this time. It is time to move on. It is time to let go. Some games cannot be won. Some games have other games on top of them... Trumped by another player because they happened to sneak their way in and win over you. God tries to put up those signs that “there are no more moves”, he tries to nudge us along by putting people in our lives or situations, options, where we can get out, get away from this situation. Sometimes it is better to just “start a new game." Sometimes it is better to just walk away.

I have found that, for myself, I have a savior complex in some situations. I think that everything- everyONE- needs saving. I think that I can be the one to do that, if they would just give me a chance. No matter how much they might push me away. There are no undo buttons in life. Even if I did not see what happened. Even if I still do not know what happened, I cannot undo it. I may never know. That other player came in and moved some cards around without me knowing. Now I'm finding myself flipping through the same stack of cards, with the same solutions that are not helping in this situation. It is time to move on. Leave that player to play others, try to win over them. It is not your job to try and save this player from themselves. Only God can do that. You are not a savior. You are a player in God's story for you. Let Him use you where He will, but stop beating a dead horse when that person is not interested in your help.

Hit “Start a new game”- let God guide your moves. He is the champion of it all, so he's got to be the best coach. With God as your coach, how could you not find the joy in your life?

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." Jeremiah 29:11-12