a shuffle of emotions

FROM "A LESSON LEARNED"
Maddox loves to play board games! He usually wants to play with either "just mommy" or "just daddy" and pretty much only likes to play the board games that he wins more often then he loses! Ha! He refuses to play Chutes & Ladders anymore simply because he thinks he "always loses"...imagine that!! One of Maddox's favorite board games to play right now is Candy Land. We play it all the time! In our game of Candy Land, there is a stack of cards that you draw from and on each card there is a colored square that matches the colored squares on the board and you move your playing piece to the corresponding and matching square on the Candy Land board. There are a few cards mixed in throughout the deck that have different candy pictures on them. One has a candy cane, one has an ice cream cone, etc. When you draw one of the "candy cards" you get to automatically jump to the matching candy space! Sometimes that space is way far ahead on the board and sometimes that space takes you way back to the beginning of the board. Of course, when Maddox plays he always wants to draw a card that will put him much further ahead then anyone else who is playing. Every time it's his turn to draw a card he gets all nervous and clenches his teeth. His eyes get really wide and he just can't wait to see what his next card will be. Recently, when I was playing Candy Land with Maddox he drew a card only to find that he drew the one "candy card" that takes you almost all the way back to the beginning of the board. He was obviously very upset. That meant he was losing the game. Maddox saw his card and immediately showed his anger. His face turned into a pout, he slammed his card down onto the board and stubbornly crossed his arms in anger. I wasn't shocked by Maddox's reaction but I wasn't happy about it either. Maddox was MAD!! I tried to explain to Maddox that he couldn't give up. I used all the classic "mom" pep sayings like "you could still win..." and "you don't know what card you will draw next..." but nothing seemed to be helping improve Maddox's attitude. He was stuck on that one bad card. After a few turns, Maddox eventually came out of his losing funk. He uncrossed his arms, his pouting lip slowly went back to normal and pretty soon he was having fun again playing with mom. But, still, every time Maddox would draw a card and wouldn't pull into the lead he would complain about that "losing card" and pout that he was "losing". I did my best to encourage him but he held on to his anger that he was in last place. Maddox is so competitive. Sure enough, though, towards the end of our board game, mama was proven right!! Maddox drew his next card from the deck and there it was...the one and only "candy card" that puts you within a few spaces of winning the entire game!! Maddox's eyes lit up and he eagerly moved his playing piece across the board until he was standing within the last few spaces of the game. Sure enough, within just a few short turns Maddox had won the game and beat me...again!! He was SO excited!! At that point, I don't even think Maddox remembered all my advice from earlier in the game but he sure was enjoying the benefits of hanging in there and not giving up!!
Lesson Learned? Maddox was happily playing an afternoon board game with mommy when all of a sudden his winning streak was in jeopardy after pulling one little card. Suddenly, his mood changed and so did our care free game time. We so often do the exact same thing in our christian walk with the Lord. We are skipping along down the path of life, making our way from one space to the next when suddenly we are blindsided. We pull a card we weren't expecting that pushes us backwards. Just like Maddox, we get angry. We slam our card down, push the game board aside, stick out our lip and cross our arms...glaring at anyone who will look our direction. We are ready to give up. We don't want to move on. Why would God deal us this hand? Why would he send us all the way back to start when we were moving ahead just fine? We can't understand why we're going backwards when forwards seems so easy and so much better! It's all the fault of that one stupid card! While we stomp our feet and scream out to God how unfair life is, God sits quietly across the board from us whispering encouragement. He reminds us not to give up and tells us to keep going. The difference between our view of the game board and God's is that he can see the whole deck of cards while we can only see them one at a time. God knows what is just around the corner and we only know today. Eventually we move forward again but are still bitter about the fact that we've had to start over. We fuss and complain to God every chance we get, reminding him of that "bad card" we drew a few turns ago. All the while, God keeps nudging us forward wishing we would just walk the path HE had planned for us "candy cards" and all. Suddenly, with the pull of one more card, life comes back into focus. God gives us a card that pushes us beyond anywhere we thought we'd end up. We were for sure we were going to lose this game and then God allows us to win! We get to skip alot of the road and move directly to the Candy Land at the end of the board! Maddox didn't thank me when he won. He didn't remember that it was really me who had forced him to continue playing. If it had been totally up to him, Maddox would have got up the moment he saw his first "candy card" and walked away from the game. However, in the end, when he beat me he didn't think back and give me any credit. He just took the win, got super excited and even gloated a bit! We do the same thing to God in life. After a trial, when we move from the valley to a peak, we don't thank God for his subtle encouragement and whispers of love. So often, if it weren't for him we would be way off track! Not only would we be back at the starting line of life but we would have plopped down right where we were, crossed our arms and given up completely!! God kept us going, though, and in the end blessed us beyond our comprehension!! We had to keep playing though!! Maddox would have never reached the bountiful Candy Land had he not finished the game!! No matter where you're at on your personal Candy Land board game of life KEEP GOING!! If you're skipping through the candy cane forest without a care in the world...keep going!! If you've suddenly drawn the candy card that pushed you all the way back to start...keep going!! If you're almost to the finish line and think for sure you're going to win...keep going!! Only God knows what card is next. Only God knows what is to come. And once you've reached the end of the game, or simply made it through your trial, don't forget to look back and thank the Lord for his love, help and encouragement. Because chances are, if it weren't for him, you'd still be stuck pouting on the "hard candy" space at the beginning of the game. We never know what the next card in our life will bring but take comfort in the fact that God does and he knows the one after that, the one after that and the one after that too!!