The Cards of Our Lives

There is a card game known as “Phase 10”, and it has become a tradition in my extended family that every time we get together, we play it at least once. Tonight, as usual, I was playing with my aunts, uncles, and cousin after dinner. My aunt was dealing the cards and, as we picked up each card as she dealt it to us, loud complaints or exclamations were heard around the table as we received the bad or good card respectively. I was one of those commenting on the cards as I received them. At first, each card did not seem to form the needed set or run and I complained, “This hand stinks!” However, on one particular occasion, after I had all my cards, I found that I was only one card away from making my phase! Then it occurred to me how foolish it was to complain about the cards as we received them, before we could see what they formed in the end. At the same time, I realized how often we do this in life. Circumstances occur, accidents happen, unfortunate events take place, and what is our response? We complain, we gripe, and often tell God that He’s messing up. Yet how can we possibly do this justly when we don’t have the ability to see the whole picture - we don’t have all the proverbial “cards” yet. We’re judging each card as it comes along, thinking we know best what each one should be, while the whole time God is planning and ordaining each event (each card) to form the perfect finished picture (or hand of cards).

There is an expression - to erupt “half-cocked”. It means to get angry or upset before fully understanding the circumstances, or before thinking it through. We just get angry for no reason. I think this is what we are really doing when we get angry or disgruntled with God when we can only see a small part of the picture; or just one card out of the final ten. While we are receiving each card, we complain about how lousy it is. Yet at the end of the deal, we often realize, “Oh! I did need that card! Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make my phase.” I believe at the end of our lives, we will probably look back and see the unpleasant or tragic events and realize that they were a necessary part of the whole picture. In the meantime, perhaps we should strive to stop complaining at each individual “card” of our lives. Instead, we should wait to judge until we have all the “cards” - in eternity, when all things are fully explained. And as Christians, we should know that there it will be shown that God’s will was and always will be perfect! (Rom. 8:28)