Is life a game? It’s not a new question, but has anything changed? If life is a game, then everything I do can be measured by whether it helps me score points and achieve game related outcomes. Every person I meet, every conversation, is either moving toward a desired outcome or not; and the clock is ticking.
Life can feel like many games. Every group has different rules and ways to score. One of the tasks on joining a new group is to learn what game its playing and the rules.
I was on my way to meet someone yesterday, and I caught myself thinking abou the outcome of our conversation. I wondered if meeting him would be a waste of my time. Rather than looking forward to the nearly limitless potential of relationship between two people, I was evaluating him in terms of the game I was playing.
But there is no game. The “game” I imagine is my way of taking control. It looks forward to a future of “winning” that doesn’t exist, and it robs me of this moment. The worst part is that it prevents me from loving the person in front of me. You can’t love someone and use him or her at the same time, even if you’re only using them in an imaginary, illusory way.
I woke up today and, before opening my eyes, reminded myself, “There is no game.” I’m going to try telling myself more often, because each time I feel a wash of freedom in the words. “There is no game” … so I can accept this moment, love the one in front of me now, and live a true life of adventure, not the fake carnival ride.
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I appreciate this.
Wow! Really well put. I think it’s especially something we in ministry have to be careful about. I think that’s what bugs me about terms like “soul winning”. Thanks!
With so many games, there’s the inference of a winner and a loser. I prefer “life as a stage” and that we’re all players. Who was that famous bard who said that?