No Winners in Solitaire

 

When she first entered the hospital, she was given a “welcome” bag of sorts that contained small toiletries of various kinds… and a pack of playing card to help pass the time. She began playing solitaire, and soon our daily text messages would include a mention of an occasional victory… but more often, a string of continual losses. She would celebrate the former and bemoan the latter. And really, she had it all wrong. In the game of life, we rarely win by going it all alone.

I read it today: “A failure to live life on my own is not a failure at all.”

We simply need each other. I love the word picture I was gifted with today… about how in the rowboat of life, sometimes we’re the one pulling the oar… and sometimes we just have to ride.

She’s learned that now. When her feet were (literally!) knocked out from under her, she had no choice but to depend on the assistance of others to see her through. She has realized in new ways the blessing of friendship, the deeper levels that go beyond a quick wave in a grocery store but instead become the working means to accomplish all that needs to be done… the dirt errands that are difficult and time consuming… and thus costly.

And she’s “pulling on the oar” occasionally, too, in ways that she can – offering financial and emotional support to others’ missions and purposes in ways that she can.

She may have lost a lot of games of solitaire, but she’s learned a lot about winning in life in the process. It’s a good trade.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one my be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 NIV)

(Photo credit: Unsplash/Kim Musalimo)