Card Games

I was teaching my daughter how to play solitaire the other day (with real cards, not on my computer, such a drag to actually have to shuffle and deal the cards!) when she lost another game.

“Why didn’t I win?” she asked.

“Sometimes you just can’t win,” I answered.

“But I do when the cards are right.”

And that started me thinking: If life is a card game, are my cards stacked so we can win? If all my Aces are buried, I can’t start new stacks. Which brought another question to mind: What are my ‘Aces’? What are the things that I build upon? That part was easy to answer: Faith, Family, Writing and Health. My Ace of Hearts: I’ve learned quite recently that if my faith formation is my first priority everything else falls into place. Ace of Diamonds: when I’m happy and organized, so is my family. As a mother, I carry that ability to set the tone for everyone else. When things go wrong, it’s my reaction that can cure broken spirits or step on them further. Ace of Spades: Writing. Like a garden spade, I churn the earth words to cultivate beautiful imagery and intense plots. Ace of Clubs: health. Yes, I was thinking health “clubs”, but also everything I eat, think and do affects my health for better or for worse.

Once these Aces are laid out, the rest of the day follows suit (I couldn’t resist that pun!) As my daughter lamented in her solitaire game, sometimes the cards are just stacked wrong. There are days when these Aces are covered up by the Queen of Grocery Shopping on a slim budget, the Jack of Sick Kids, or the eight of ‘wear-is-my-other-shoe?’.

To win the game of solitaire, all the cards must be stacked on those Aces all the way up to the King. What does it mean to win at life? Is money the King? Marriage? Fame? Health? Having children? Possessions? How can we possibly win if we don’t know for sure who our King is? I’d like to say that I’m perfect and Jesus is always the King of my day. Sometimes he’s not, and when things start to slip out of my grasp, I am quickly reminded that I didn’t begin my day properly – on my knees in prayer! That’s the best way to re-stack the cards, to slip that King into the empty slot and begin a new stack.

Other times, I realized, the only way to win is to cheat. Perhaps the grocery shopping takes place with the baby still in his pajamas, or the sick kids are allowed to watch movies all day so I can still write a little and perhaps clean the kitchen. And that lost shoe? I still don’t have an answer for that.