Play the Game

You commit to starting a diet and that evening are offered one of your favorite Sprinkles Cupcakes…just a bite, right?  You commit to prayer and meditation in the mornings only to look at your calendar to find a packed schedule for the week ahead.  You commit to choosing love in your relationships only to get a call from a frenemy that leaves you totally triggered.

Have you ever noticed that when we make new commitments in life, we immediately get faced with the opposite?  It’s as if we are being challenged – with life saying: Are you sure that’s what you want? And if it is, step up and CHOOSE IT!

When we commit to something big, we are always challenged to choose in the face of opposition.  Each time we choose and move through our fear or that opposition, it’s as if we pass go and make it to the next “level.”

Life is in some ways just like a big video game.  We wake in the morning on a certain level.  We’re faced with challenges in the form of people, decisions, and past hooks.  We use our tools and weapons of choice to defeat these enemies just as Mario uses his fireballs, jumping power, and super speed to outrun and detonate the curious creatures in his path.

As we advance, we learn where to look to find a star or mushroom to give us super powers (hint: look to God).  All the while, we’re just trying to make it to the next level.  As we get better, we are faced with greater challenges – it’s the nature of the game!

The better we’re braced in our values and community, the greater chance we have at success, yet we are the only ones who can choose how we will fight the battles.

In retrospect, I can see that when I decided to move into my life’s work last year, I was immediately faced with judgement from some of the people whose opinions I cared about the most, in addition to the doubting voice in my own head.  In the face of these challenges (which felt debilitating at the time), I kept choosing and keep choosing this mission.

Next time you make a new declaration or commitment in your life – like one to CHOOSE LOVE over fear – know that you may just get faced with anything but what you’ve committed to that very same day.  Don’t let this stop you but instead be more fuel in your fire.

When we dig deep and stay the course, we become more powerful.  To the victim, a challenge is defeat; but to the victor, challenge is opportunity.

While you might think that these challenges are against you, they are really for you* because they always call you to become more committed, and thus, stronger in the game of life.

Choosing the challenge,

S

* – Thank you, Sarah H., for sharing the idea that life is always working for us and not against us.  It’s so true!  While you might not realize it at the time (especially amidst our greatest challenges), life is always working for us.

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