Solitaire

I don’t play a lot of computer games, but the one that I play most often is Spider (Two Suits) Solitaire. Just how often do you have to play a game before it’s termed an addiction?! I enjoy the challenge of the game and am at the place where I want to win every game, and believe that every game is winnable. According to the powers that be, they (whoever they are) say the chances of winning are 1 in 5, or 20%. Currently, according to the game statistics, I happen to be winning 95.6% of the time.

When I get to the last deal of cards and I am unable to win the game, I click the “undo” button to get back to the beginning and start all over again. That way I can re-play the game and it isn’t considered a loss. Sometimes I walk away and come back later and it often seems that once I’ve taken a break and come back to it, all the cards line up and I wonder how it was I couldn’t see it play out earlier.

I wish life had an “undo” button. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep hitting that button until we go back to that time and place where we could say or do something differently. How far back would I go?

My son is reading the Ted Dekker book “Blink” right now and it tells the story of a man with a genius IQ who is somehow able to see all of the possible outcomes and consequences to his actions in the blink of an eye. He chooses his actions according to the best possible outcome.

Sometimes, what we think is the best possible outcome isn’t that at all. And sometimes the best possible outcomes are those that challenge our faith and our belief system – and often those “outcomes” don’t lend themselves to warm, fuzzy feelings. Face it -- life is hard and life’s not always fair.