solitaire

The title of this post not only tells you about how I spent most of my day, but I intend it to offer a little hope, too.

I found my decks of cards when I was digging through a box of paper, glues, and tape. The only thing I could do with them when I found them was play a rousing game of Solitaire by myself. It struck me that a game can be going along so quickly and all the sudden, there isn't one card available to keep the game alive. There were also times when I was nearly ready to quit and reshuffle when I flipped over the one card that allowed me to make a tremendous amount of progress.

It's sort of like that in life, too. Right now, it seems like every day in the last week, I have heard one story of loss, frustration, death, sickness, or separation from a friend or family member; situations where none of the right cards seem to be available. I'm never sure quite what to say; funny, encouraging, commiserating comments can all be taken out of context from the sympathy or empathy I intend to express. But, I guess my hope for all these important people in my life is that they know the game isn't over. There is still hope. The right card is still somewhere in the deck; hopefully, that "card," in the context of life, is Christ.

In the last 24 hours, I've lost the king of spades in my deck. It's sort of hard to finish a game of Solitaire without a complete deck. I can get close (one card away), but can never "win" without that king. I'd better go looking for him.