Poker Not Patience

Every now and then I like to read excerpts out of a particular book – a compilation of letters that C.S. Lewis wrote to friends and a variety of other people with whom he had correspondence.  Several of the early letters in the book express the atheistic views he had during the period prior to his conversion to Christianity. 

Then, there are about two or three letters he wrote during his “spiritual limbo” in which I find rare and precious glimpses into his conversion . . .

In one such letter, he writes:

“You will be surprised to hear that my outlook is now definitely religious.  It is not precisely Christianity, though it may turn out that way in the end.  I can’t express the change better than by saying that whereas I once would have said ‘Shall I adopt Christianity,’ I now wait to see whether it will adopt me: i.e., I now know there is another Party in the affair – that I am playing poker, not Patience, as I once supposed.”

I looked up the game “Patience” and it is the equivalent of what we would call Solitaire – a single-player game.  The spiritual journey is a multi-player game, not Solitaire! 

This is so exciting.  How easy it is to maneuver myself through life as if I am the only player making the moves!   It is a relief, a thrill, and a humbling matter to be reminded that God is making moves as well.  Without a doubt, I ought to pay more attention to those moves.

God – we are so appreciative and humbled that you reply, engage, and join.  How could life be bearable otherwise?  May we have in our minds a picture of a game of interaction when we despair that we are playing Solitaire.  Help us be aware of and searching for evidence that You are in the game with us.

-Kelly B

Comments

[Poker]

in my opinion solitaire is much easy than the poker because in solitaire you just concentrate on your own game but in poker you have to concentrate on other games too so thanks for sharing the nice stuff.