Keep Your Mind On The Dealer

Jesus speaking: I like to keep people solving the problems they are dealt each day. It’s a game I often play. Each day is like a turned-down card in a game of cards. You are excited to know what card it is, hoping that it will be the right one or one that is going to help you win the game. I’m the dealer and I know what cards I’m dealing to each player. The Devil is playing across the table from you, and I’m dealing his cards too; he really hates that part of the game…when it comes time for Me to deal a new hand. Once one game is over, I collect all the cards, add your score and his score to the score sheet and then deal the next round of cards. You watch the cards leave My hand and slide across the table to stop right in front of each player; your mind is trying hard to will the right cards to you and the wrong cards to your opponent. You aren’t allowed to touch the cards until the dealing is done, but once the last card slides into the small stack of cards in front of the last player, you gingerly reach for the first card in your pile and take a peek. Your heart takes a dip; it isn’t the card you desired, and in fact, by the look of the first card you’re already thinking that this game is going to be tough. You cast a furtive glance at Me as if to ask if I could slip you a better card. I catch your glance, but not your eye. My eyes are set on the clock on the wall to the left of your head…time is an important factor in this game. Your opponent has had one up on you for some time now; he sits to your right and has had the advantage of being able to see the clock on the wall, which is pretty much directly behind your head. He knows how late it is, and that’s why there are growing beads of sweat across his brow.

This card game is a game of skill; there is no such thing as luck in this match. The secret to this game is playing the cards you’ve been dealt in correct order and just at the right time. Dexterity and calm, composed faith is needed to score enough points to win. This is a game of winner-takes-all, so the stakes are high. The reason I didn’t allow you to catch My eye is because I know and you know, and all players are fully aware, that at this stage in the game that it isn’t so much the card that’s being dealt that determines the outcome but how you play the cards in your hand.  I may have winked at your lack of skill in playing the game earlier on in the match, but now that you have advanced to the grand finale, there will be no more of that slipping you a different card just because you don’t like the ones in your hand. The rules of this high-stake, grand-final game clearly state, no reshuffles, no second chances or double-dealing. Of course we both know that your opponent doesn’t play by the book; and at times when you managed to catch My eye, you’ve given Me that hurt, it-isn’t-fair kind of look. It is at those times that I’ve looked deeply into your appealing eyes with that intense look that wills you to remember our link, the connection we have with each other that your opponent doesn’t have. We are lovers and if you keep that connection strong, I don’t need to deal you the cards of your desire. In fact, I could deal you blank cards and we could still win this game, if only you’ll stick to the rules of the game. That’s right, My love, we’re not going to play his dirty game; we’re going to win this match fair and square. Your opponent is going to go down in ignominious defeat. So keep your eyes on the cards, and your mind linked to Mine, we are working in the spirit now. So put aside the carnal mind– figuring and hopeful– reckoning on all those little escape hatches I made for you when you were but a novice, a bungling babe, a newbie. You’ve been playing against this crook for a long time now, and yes, when you were young and not so close to Me, I did need to help you out of some of the bad moves you made, but now that you’ve reached the big league, the rules are what they are, and you and I must stick very closely to them.

Your opponent is playing a fool’s game; his days of bluffing, tricks and deceits are over. That huge pile of chips in the middle of this gaming table is ours; we are going to take all, lock, stock and barrel.