Life Lessons from Scrabble

It goes something like this . . .

It's five turns into a heated game and I've had nothing but words like "bug" and "mad".  In fact I'm starting to get mad because every time I pick my letters I get nothing but one more "i" to add to the other 4.

And then my moment! I pick my letters, put them in my holder and stare at them for a few seconds. And then I see it! I actually have an amazing word! It is a great word!  I can actually use up all my letters! And they are not all one point letters! It's a rare occasion and it's going to be so sweet to see the look on my opponent's (aka husband's) face when I play it. I'm already dreaming of my huge score.

I just have to find a place to put it.

I'm staring at the board, looking at all the possibilities. I think to myself, I'm okay if I don't get a double word score, I'll still be okay. Maybe there is at least a triple letter score I can find. Still looking, and looking. Okay, maybe a double letter score? It can't be this hard, I mean, this is a great word. At this point I'd settle for just a spot, no extra special scoring. There has got to be a place for this. I mean this is a great word!

But my time is up and there is no place for my word.

It's tragic. It's truly devastating. The thought of pulling my word apart is painful. I have to play some simple word like, "run" or "fun," and break up the biggest word, the best word I've had in the history of my Scrabble experience.

But I have to let it go, or I lose.

Okay, okay, maybe I exaggerated a little bit :)  I'm not sobbing over a Scrabble game, but I'm sure I've groaned a few times, maybe hit the table.

Like my Scrabble game, there have been a good many moments in my life where I've had to painfully let go of my plans, and my ideas, or my expectations of life. It's like letting the pieces of that AMAZING word fall through my hands. I either let "it" go, or don't let "it" go.  As the Lord was reminding me so gently the other day :) 

Either way, life is just not going to be the way I planned or expected. But in the first scenario I'm embracing life with joy, and in the latter I'm closing up, refusing the change, and letting depression and fear ruin what could be the greatest joy.

So I choose joy today, however hard it may be. 

To be continued . . . . . . . . .