Winning at the Game of Life

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Recently the phrase "Winning at the Game of Life," keeps coming up to me. As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of playing a card game called Rook. In my family we would always play rook at family get togethers. In Rook there are 2 sets of partners playing against each other for a total of 4 players. Each hand has a possible total of 120 points and each player bids on how many points they think they can win, with the highest bidder being in the lead for the hand. The high bidder gets an extra 5 cards from the "kitty," that can be used to improve their hand. The high bidder also gets to set the trump suit for the hand, which is the suit of cards that beats every other suit. 

Earlier this summer we had a family get together and played a lot of rook, and then I wanted to test something out so I found an app I could play online. I started testing what would happen if I won every single bid, even if I had to bid really high and I had terrible cards. I tested this out for a while and found that I would win 75-80 percent of all the games that I played by simply winning every bid. The only time I wouldn't bid was if I was sure my partner was going to win the bid. 

I think winning at rook is a lot like winning at the game of life. Here are some of the correlations...

Even when I had terrible cards I would bid and usually win the hand because I had a partner and hidden help from the kitty. In life we get to partner with God and other people and they can be strong where we are weak. We also get the hidden help of God working behind the scenes. 

Winning the bid meant getting 5 extra cards from the kitty, but then 5 cards have to be put back into the kitty before starting the hand. In this process I have learned to always simplify my hand. My goal was always to only have 2 suits of cards. For example, it's not good to have diamonds, clubs, and hearts. I was always willing to get rid of really high cards if it meant I could simplify down to 2 suits because having 3 or 4 suits makes you more likely to get beat if the opponent has trump cards. 

In life I think we also need to simplify. Sometimes we need to let go of good things for great things. 

In Rook and in life the order that we play our cards really make a difference. You can have great cards but play them in the wrong order and lose. 

The other big learning lesson is to stay in control and in the lead. In rook whoever plays the first card of each round dictates the suit for that round. Therefore, if your opponent is in the lead it can be really hard to get back into control and the game can get away from you real fast. 

Today's communion is a time of gratitude that God always causes us to triumph in Christ. And we are asking him for help to win at the game of life. 

Today's Health/Fitness Tip

Lately I have been implementing a 4 day workout cycle that alternates between lighter and heavier days. I have found that this works really well. The lighter days help with recovery, but more importantly they provide an opportunity to improve technique on the fundamentals. The improvements in the fundamentals make the heavier days better. I think of it as a day to work on building a solid foundation followed by a day of working toward the next level. The combination of the two seems to work very well. 

I am praying for you.

Daniel

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