Chutes and Ladders is one of those board games that has somehow managed to survive over the years. Why? I am really not sure why. Maybe it is because it doesn't come with 10 pages of rules. Maybe it is because it doesn't take three days to play one game. Maybe it is because it does not require a lot of brain power. Whatever the reasons, it lives on.
I have played my fair share of Chutes and Ladders. I have held down the cardboard spinner and watched as the little plastic arrow struggles to move around the the circle even once and then stops on the number that determines how far up the board you can move your marker. The race is on to see who can arrive at the top of the board first. I can't imagine anyone who has never played this riveting game, but in case you are someone who has not had the joy, let me explain that as you move your marker toward the final destination and victory there are spaces marked with chutes and spaces marked with ladders.
If you are lucky enough to land on a ladder, you are immediately allowed to move your marker up the board bypassing several spaces and putting yourself on the fast track to victory. Then there are those spaces marked with the dreaded chutes. Land on one of those and you immediately take a swift plunge down to a lower level and now are required to travel the very same path you just climbed.
My life sometimes feels like an unending game of Chutes and Ladders. Most days are spent just moving along on what appears to be a meandering trail to my final destination with the Lord. Moving slowly upwards. But then there are those days when out of nowhere a ladder appears. Doors open, unexpected opportunities present themselves and I am fast tracked toward my final destination and victory. I find myself singing "O Happy Day" as I bypass the mundane of the present and am moved further up the road to beautiful new sights. Just when I am blissfully moving through this wonderful new area, out of nowhere, I am confronted with a chute.
After you have traversed the path of life for a while, you hopefully develop little spidey sensors that shoot up when you are drawing near to a chute. You have learned from past chute experiences that when the path you are on suddenly becomes dark, scary, and unfamiliar you need to immediately stop and ask Jesus to take your hand and shine His amazing light on your path so that you can pass safely over the chute. These are the obvious "slow down dangerous chute ahead" moments. I have grown pretty savvy about traversing life's major chutes. I know that there is no way I can maneuver this portion of the path on my own and have learned to just stop and wait for the Lord to help me. What gets me more often than not are those little chutes.
For me, those little chutes represent my own personal inner sabotaging moments. I am moving merrily up my path when I begin to notice that everyone else seems to be climbing ladders on every spin. They are moving faster than the speed of light upward. They are experiencing new heights, discovering new joys, drawing ever closer to the Lord. Every step seems to open a door and an opportunity presents itself. Then there is little me slowly putzing my way up. Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing awesome. Just little old me plodding along square by square.
This is where I had my Chutes and Ladders meets A Christmas Story epiphany. So leave the land of Chutes and Ladders and move with me to the iconic Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. Now here again I cannot imagine anyone who has not watched this movie about a million times and will smile when they read these words,"You'll shoot your eye out!" But for the sake of that one person who has somehow never spent a day with Ralphie, let me set up one scene from the movie.
[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted]
Santa Claus: How about a nice football?
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'.
Santa Claus: Okay, get him out of here.
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!
Ralphie: [Ralphie is shoved down the slide, but he stops himself and climbs back up] No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! http://www.tbs.com/stories/story
I too know what I want. I know that my life verse is
Ps 27:4 The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.
That is my dream and the Lord is directing my steps accordingly. When Ralphie momentarily forgets his heart's true desire, he is offered the dream of others. For me, Satan lures me to the edge of a chute and I momentarily forget my heart's desire and he offers me the dreams of others. If I am not careful, I let go of my dream and begin to lust after the dreams of others and I find myself being shoved down the chute.
BUT NOT TODAY
Today as I see one of those little chutes in my path, I stop myself. I press my hands and feet against the sides of the chute and slowly climb back up and make my voice heard - NO!
Now I am safely past that dreaded chute and doing the happy dance as I proceed on up my path. I hope that when you find yourself on the threshold of one of those little chutes, or one of those very long chutes, you will stop and take a moment to evaluate what lies before you and choose to say "YES" to the Lord and a very loud "NO" to the enemy.
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