LIFE

Caleb and I played The Game of LIFE today.

In case you have never played The Game of LIFE, and don't know what on earth I am talking about, here's the gist of the game: The player who retires with the highest amount of money wins. Before you can retire though, you must travel through the gameboard, stopping along the way to get married, buy a house and collect your Paydays.

It's a great representation of real life. They are even clever enough to throw in some typical life moments like this:

Buy an SUV.
Pay $25,000.

And some seriously frustrating scenarios like this:

Tornado hits house!
Pay $125,000 if not insured.

The more we progressed through The Game of Life, the more extravagant and expensive the squares became. Pretty soon we were buying sailboats for $30,000 and lakeside cabins for $90,000. We were throwing parties for entertainment award winners, sponsoring golf tournaments, buying home gyms and even attended a Hollywood movie premier. And then came the doozy...We spent $100,000 on cosmetic surgery! $100,000!?

I was so appalled that I was contemplating going on strike. More than that though, I was preparing myself to fight Caleb - tooth and nail - if he forced me to pay for such an outrageous surgery.

And then the most peculiar thing happened...Isaiah came home from school, hugged me and said "Mom, your butt is kinda jiggly."

Suddenly spending $100,000 on cosmetic surgery didn't sound so bad, but I wasn't going to admit it to myself until I spoke the last word. I leaned down, looked into Isaiah's eyes and glowering at him said:

Go Straight To Jail
Do Not Pass Go
Do Not Collect $200

Oops, that's Monopoly. I think we have been playing too many games around here, because what I meant to say was this... "If you ever say that again, I will rip your lips off. Do I make myself clear?"



I'm sorry. Where was I? I blacked out there for a minute.

Oh yes I remember now, LIFE.

It's an interesting game full of getting rich, buying extravagant toys, taking fancy vacations and *gulp* having cosmetic surgery done. There are, of course, the occasional squares that if you land on them, you are given money in the form of LIFE tiles for doing such self-less things as: Taking a family vacation, going hiking or fishing, visiting your in-laws or returning a lost wallet.

These things - in and of themselves - are not necessarily bad, but the longer we played the Game of Life, I couldn't help but think that this is what our lives look like for the majority of us. We spend much of our time building up our wealth, and then spending it on toys, vacations and body parts. We have done this often enough that a game has been named after it.

The Game of Life

Is that what life is about? The person who has the most money, the coolest toys, the best vacations and the most beautiful body, with some charity work in between, wins? Is this life just an accident caused by some cosmic collision? Or were we created by God and for God to have meaning and purpose?

In John 10:10, Jesus said:
"I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly."

What does it mean to have an abundant life? Jesus is not talking about material possessions, but rather, a richness and joy to life that holds firm regardless of our circumstances. In the past 15 months, Adam and I have been living the abundant life. In order to do so though, it required us to let go of our comfortable life, and completely trust God. It has not been easy, but we are finally going through life with a sense of purpose, peace, freedom and a personal relationship with our Savior who is with us every step of the way. And that is the abundant life...jiggly butt and all.

Matthew 19:26 With God all things are possible.