More Than Checkers--December 30, 2020

More Than Checkers--December 30, 2020

"...because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.  You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you." [Colossians 1:5-6a]

I was playing checkers with my daughter the other day.  At seven years old, she's getting the hang of the game, but she still need occasional reminders like, "You can't move that piece backward," or "Be careful--if you move there, I'll want to jump that piece and take it."  So playing a game with her involves a little bit of coaching.

I was thinking, as we were playing on the living room floor, that at one level, me helping my opponent in the game is strategically foolish.  Why help the enemy, right?  In fact, at one point, when my nine-year-old son peeked over to see what we were doing, he offered his own advice to me: "Don't help her, Dad--then she'll beat you!" I know there will come a time when I won't help her any more because she'll want and need to figure things out on her own.  But even then, it won't be because I've decided I don't want to lose at checkers.  So I calmed my son down with the assurance that I knew what I was doing, and that it was OK with me if I helped my daughter to avoid a wrong move in the game--even though she was my opponent in the same game.  His putting it into words for me like that gave me clarity--this wasn't about winning, and it never really had been. And when I am clear about what really matters in the situation, then it doesn't matter at all how many checkers I jump or let go.

Honestly, at the end of my life, it will not have mattered one bit how many games of checkers I have won.  But I hope that over the course of my life, my daughter will have come to learn that she is beloved... and that she will grow up into a thoughtful, clever, intelligent human being.  Every game of checkers is an opportunity both to build our relationship and to sharpen her thinking, but honestly, who wins, or whether I lose an early chance to jump one of her pieces on the board is practically irrelevant.  The time matters, and the game matters--but not in the sense of who wins or loses.  It has almost nothing to do with who has a bigger pile of checkers at the end, and almost everything to do with how the time is spent to help her grow and to build the relationship.  It is a change of perspective that makes all the difference--from the immediate ups and downs of individual moves in a checkers game, to the big picture of life once the pieces are all back in the box.

And that change of perspective is, I believe, something like the shift of vantage point that the apostle has in mind when writing to the Colossians.  There is a difference between living our lives focused solely on immediate gains and self-interest in the moment, and living our lives through the eyes of God's perspective.  You might even call it the difference between heaven and earth.  

I don't mean that simply as a matter of altitude--it's not that heaven is "up there" somewhere, and that the problem with earth is that it's too "low."  It's not even a difference between focusing on the afterlife as opposed to this present life--that's really important to be clear on, because sometimes religious folk make it sound like the Gospel's message is simply, "None of this life matters, so only focus on what happens after you die."  I want to suggest that viewing life from the vantage point of God's space--that is to say, through the lens of God's Reign and God's priorities--will change how we think about the things that matter now.  It will change how we live our lives, what priorities arise to the top of our lists, and what things simply don't matter any more.  It will change the way we play checkers, so to speak.

When I am playing a board game with my kids, I know three things:  first, that the actual stakes of the game itself are pretty piddling, and nobody really cares who wins at Candy Land or Settlers of Catan or checkers.  And second of all, long after the game is done, I will still be these kids' dad, and our relationship will far outlast the time we spend jumping pieces around a board.  And third, at the same time, I can use the way I play the game to do something that deepens my relationship with my kids or teaches them how to be decent human beings... or I can be a shortsighted jerk who only cares about winning.  I suppose I could use every family game night to dunk on my kids and ruthlessly defeat them in every game without helping them to think about their moves, but honestly, that seems to focus a lot more on winning and a lot less on the people they become or how our relationship holds up.

And that's the difference, I think, between living with our hope anchored, as the apostle says, "in heaven," versus putting all your chips (or checkers) on what the world calls "winning" right now.  It's not a matter of mere delayed gratification (as in, "I could have a small prize now, but I'm saving up for a bigger prize for myself later!" which is really just being self-centered on a bigger scale).  It's about a change in what matters.  Either the game of checkers with your kid is about "winning" or it's really about love--and if it's about love, then that will change your strategy in how you play.  You'll see that every move is an opportunity to teach, to model good sportsmanship as well as good thinking, to encourage, to be graceful, and to allow them to grow.  And that will mean a different way of moving your pieces on the board.

That's how the followers of Jesus are called to spend our days, resources, energy, and love--recognizing that the point is not about what the world calls "winning." And in fact it's a terrible shame to waste a lifetime focused on putting Me and My Group First.  If I take seriously that God's perspective is the most important, most definitive lens to see my life and choices through, then I will see everybody else--EVERYBODY ELSE--as someone infinitely beloved of God, and their well-being is more important than me getting a bigger pile of checkers to my name.  If I see that this life is my chance to help others grow while I grow as well, that this life is my opportunity to love and build relationships with all people, and that long after the game pieces are all put away, we will still be in relationship with one another, then I will use my life more more than just racking up points, money, status, or power.  I will be done, once and for all, with the nonsense the blowhards of the world call "winning," and instead will be focused on spending these lesser things--like money, like energy, like popularity, like our game pieces--for the sake of what lasts.  And in the end what lasts is other people, and the love we have kindled in this life.  These things will be held onto into the eternal scheme of things, but not who had more money, and not who had a nicer car.  

So for me at least, that means I'm learning not to be the person anymore who whines, "Why should MY resources (time, energy, tax dollars, what-have-you) go to help THOSE PEOPLE OVER THERE?"  because honestly, my stuff won't last.  But the ones I so easily label "those people" are infinitely precious to God, and they matter more than my 501(k).  Infinitely more.

If I can re-discover that a game of checkers with my daughter isn't really about winning but about love and relationship, then maybe we can all recognize that our whole lives are about love, too.  The game pieces will be put away soon enough, scores forgotten, and winner-status left in the dustbin of history.  But the people we have been placed alongside of in this world--they are precious.  Taking that seriously will change how you and I spend the day before us.

Remember: it's about more than checkers.

Lord God, enable us to see our lives from your vantage point, and let that change our outlook all around.