On Saturday I attended Survivor Baumholder at the Baptist Church in town. It is held about twice a month. The plan for the evening was to enjoy a pot luck dinner and then have a game night while the kids were in child care.
It was a tough week for me, so I was really looking forward to the break and chance to just have fun with other ladies.
I took Banana Split Cake to the potluck and it was a big hit. It’s one of my favorites because it is so tasty and easy to make.
The girls were excited to play with the other kids in child care and Will didn’t even cry when I left him, so this was headed to being a great night.
After a devotion time, we broke up into groups to play games. My group played one game of Apples to Apples and then decided to ditch it in favor of something more fun and lively…a game of Spoons. I think we were a bit jealous of the fun time the group beside us was having with their spooning competition.
I’ve only played this game once and there was another in our group that had never played. In the end, she faired much better than I.
If you’ve never heard of Spoons, it is kindof like musical chairs except there isn’t music and you are vying for spoons instead of chairs.
It’s played with a deck of cards and the object is to get four of a kind and then take a spoon. Once the first spoon is taken, everyone else quickly grabs a spoon of their own. The one player that is left without one loses the round and earns a letter of the word “spoon”.
The game is very fast-paced and you have to keep your eye on your own cards and the spoons laying in front of you at the same time.
After the first three rounds, I was losing big time….with the letters “S”-“P”-and-“O” beside my name.
Yes, I lost all three of the first rounds of this game.
I am pretty competitive at game playing and this bothered me immensily.
But I knew what my problem was.
I would get so focued on getting the four of a kind in my hand of cards that I was not watching the spoons diappearing into my friends’ hands! Most of the time, all the spoons were GONE before I even looked up!
I was completely focused on the wrong thing.
In fact, I learned from Wikipedia, that you can actually play the game successfully without even paying attention to what you have in your hand….just discard and watch the spoons in front of you like a hawk…all you have to do is be alert enough to grab one yourself.
Instead of focusing on the spoons to win, I was focused on the cards, trying my best to get the coveted (or so I thought) four of a kind.
As I was thinking about that game today, I realised that our walk with Christ can be similar.
We can get so focued on the wrong things that we lose focus on what’s really important.
We can get caught up in arguing so many issues, too many issues….
we argue over worship styles
we argue over church dress
we argue over Bible translations
we argue over music
and the list could go on and on.
When we spend all of our time arguing and debating so many issues we are focused on the wrong thing.
God’s ultimate goal for our lives is not for us to be right, instead it is for us to honor and please Him.
That is the objective of this game of life.
And we honor and please Him by loving the Lord with all our heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40
As I read scripture, I can’t help but notice that some of Christ’s harshest words were to the Pharisees…the religious people who spent more time being “right” than loving God and their fellow man.
I am learning more and more that I don’t have all the answers. And that’s okay.
At this point, I want to seek God, not so I will be “right” and so I can adequately debate all the issues in the church.
I want to seek God so that I can know Him more intimately
so that I can worship Him more fully
so that I can love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind
so that I can live my life to praise and honor Him
and
so that I can truly love my neighbors as myself.
LifeatTheCircus says
You have a gift of taking something ordinary (like a game of spoons) and turning it into a lesson for us all. I appreciate it greatly. Great post! Right on the money!!!
Becoming Me says
Wonderful post and so true…focusing on the nonessentials instead of the essentials stunts spiritual growth.
Suzanne says
Great reminder to major on the major (points of scripture) and minor on the minors! Encouraging words, dear friend.
Happy Mama says
First off let me say that if you didn’t think Apples to Apples wasn’t lively enough than you and/or your friends were playing with the WRONG people!
I have always had the greatest time playing this game. but I also really like spoons.
As for your insights how true you are!! It’s amazing how things come to us in the form of amazing illustrations!