Switch View

I have a confession to make. I like online games. A LOT. I have wasted too much time playing. I can tell myself it is to help me relax, which is true....but it also keeps me from dealing with "stuff" I need to deal with. One game site even lets you earn play "$" so that you can donate it to help causes. Makes me feel not quite so guilty. Problem? You have to play awhile to make it worthwhile.

However, one never knows when a spiritual lesson is lurking amongst the seemingly pointless things in life. There's a game I like called Mah Jongg Toy Chest. Maj Jongg in general is a game where you match tiles to make them go away and clear the board. Trick is you can only click on tiles that are not surrounded by other tiles. Eventually, I run out of matches I can see. However, the game creators provided a help. There's text at the top that says "Switch View". When that is pressed, the board switches and the tiles are at a different angle which usually reveals more matches....and play continues until there are no more available matches....or time runs out.

When the view is switched, the perspective changes. I looked up perspective: the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance (urge you to maintain your perspective and to view your own task in a larger framework — W. J. Cohen)

I read a story/e-mail one time about people who could not agree. So the teacher put a person on each side of a ball where each person could only see their side. They had to convince the other person they were right. One side was black, one was white. There was no way they could agree....until they switched sides and saw it from the other person's view.

Life is a lot like that. However, I am reminded often that I am not seeing the whole picture. God has left just enough of the details out that I have to trust and have faith that His perspective is enough. Once in awhile, I get a small glimpse of changes I need to make to keep moving forward. A reminder that I need to switch views.

Philippians 3:14-16 (NIV) ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

PS The prize on Maj Jongg Toy Chest if you get all the matches? A big penguin waddles out and you get extra points for the remaining time. I know....God's plan is MUCH better!

Father, Thank you so much for the ability to sometimes catch a view of the vision you have for us and others you bring into our lives. May we keep pressing toward the real prize. We seek your wisdom and your viewpoint to keep us moving onward and upward.