Like thousands of other people, I have recently become addicted to Candy Crush Saga. The premise of Candy Crush Saga is simple, you match pieces of candy on a grid to score points. As the levels increase, the difficulty increases. Most recently I have struggled to get past one level, failing time after time. This all got me thinking of how we can learn many lessons from this simple game in relation to our life and days on earth.
1. You only have so much life - use it wisely
In Candy Crush a person has a limited number of lives and each life must be used wisely. If these lives are wasted, a person must wait a given amount of time before receiving another life. This applies to our earthly life as well. We each only have one life to live and thus we should use our life wisely - to accomplish the purpose that we have been created for and to spend our time on the priorities that matter.
2. Don't take the move that seems obvious and "feels right"
In Candy Crush there are a wide variety of moves that are available at any given time. Making the wrong move is irreversible and could cost you the entire game (a life). Therefore, it is often required to look over the entire board to look for available moves, to consider how a particular move might affect the future of your game. This is true in life as well. We are often faced with situations and decisions that need to be made. We should not take the first and most immediate choice available, instead we should stop and consider how this decision will affect our life and our future.
3. Friends and family are necessary to our success
In Candy Crush you can ask friends and family members for additional lives, additional moves, and additional tickets to help you proceed throughout he various levels of the game. What is more, you can ask friends and family members for tips and tricks to help with particular levels that you find yourself stuck on. The same is true in life. A solid and dependable foundation of friends and family members - people that we know love us and will support us - are required. Friends and family members bring us inspiration and encouragement at our times of deepest need and desperation. Friends and family members can speak truth and life into us when we think we can't go any farther.
4. A faithful "higher power" is a necessity
In Candy Crush pieces are dropped from the top of the game board, with little to no knowledge of what pieces might be coming next. (I often complain to my wife that the "man upstairs" is failing to drop the pieces I need). In each one of our lives we need help from The Almighty God, who cares for us, sustains us, and gives us everything that we need to carry on and to find victory in this life.
The escaped convict from the Illinois prison was caught this past week (see previous post here) after being on the loose for more than 4 days. After he was captured the news stories started to come in - I am still waiting for the details of how he evaded law enforcement, helicopters, and k-9 units for more than 100 hours. One of the stories that I found particularly interesting was one in which he claims he had "no motive" in his escape;
Illinois Department of Corrections Director of Communications Tom Shaer says Jared Carter had no motive when he walked away from the Robinson Correctional Center. He says he made an impulsive decision, bad decision to leave a minimum security prison where he had work clearance that’s now led him to a maximum security prison where life is much different. Carter has been relocated to the Pontiac Correctional Center. In the meantime, he says the DOC will review its practices and procedures. He says the DOC has two-thousand to three-thousand inmates among work camps, work details outside prison walls on prison grounds and work crews in communities and state buildings and that’s happened without incident for years. He says periodic review of all supervision and other procedures is important at all times. Carter is the first inmate to ever escape from the Robinson Correctional Center.
As I thought about his impulsive decision - and all that it will end up costing - I thought about the Christina life as well. Often we - a followers of Christ - make "impulsive decisions" that end up costing in some major ways. When we give in to peer pressure or temptation - without giving much thought to the way of God, His sacrifice for us, or His power within us - we are acting in an impulsive manner and the costs are huge.
Just as the impulsive decision by this fugitive cost him more prison time, the loss of many of his minimum security treatment, and the loss of his work release freedoms. When we - as Christians - make impulsive decisions to sin we cost ourselves the continued connection and communion with God - there is a gap placed between us and God and we can not stand before Him righteously until we repent of our action. Further, when we act in impulsive ways we cost ourselves eternal benefits with God.
But, the impulsive decision that was made by the prisoner did not only cost him, it also cost the city of Robinson (and many surrounding cities and communities) and the state of Illinois through the use of additional law enforcement personnel and equipment, through the "lock-down" that was placed on the schools, the closure of many businesses and organizations, the emotional stress that was placed on individuals and families, and much, much more. In this same way, our impulsive decisions affect many, many people - our spouses, our family members, our friends, and on and on it goes. Even when we do not see the immediate results, the emotional and spiritual scars are left for years and years - generation after generation.
So, the next time you are tempted - take a moment to think. Don't make an impulsive decision - the costs are worth considering!
Like thousands of other people, I have recently become addicted to Candy Crush Saga. The premise of Candy Crush Saga is simple, you match pieces of candy on a grid to score points. As the levels increase, the difficulty increases. Most recently I have struggled to get past one level, failing time after time. This all got me thinking of how we can learn many lessons from this simple game in relation to our life and days on earth.
