Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of video games. I have nothing against those who are, however. I don’t think they shouldn’t exist or shouldn’t be played, they’re just not my thing. So when one of my sisters introduced me to Candy Crush (CC) awhile back, I was resistant. I reminded her of my lack of interest in video games. She said that she generally felt the same way but that I simply HAD to check it out. Let’s just say, I quickly wished that I never had because I became enthralled instantly! I now have two accounts and have gotten my husband and children interested in at as well. Don’t tell them, but I sometimes play on my kids’ devices when they’re sleeping. : ) Since I am of the mind that everything happens for a reason, I have managed to find relevance of the game to my life. God is good! And, no, this is not an attempt to rationalize my playing…I figure, if this is the worst little secret or guilty pleasure I have, then I’m doing pretty well!
When I first started to play CC, I just saw it as a pleasant distraction, a mindless way to decompress in what seems to be my infrequent downtime. As I’ve played, though, I’ve picked up on a few patterns, which I do daily in my professional life and usually learn a great deal from them. I just can’t help myself when it comes to this. My patients often hear me say–and later quote me–“One’s a fluke. Two’s a coincidence. Three’s a pattern.” I think patterns appeal to me because they help me make sense of things, both for myself and other people. So, it’s no surprise that I am even reading into a video game. For those of you who aren’t familiar, here’s a screen shot from a game of CC:
So, the goal of the game is to move the candies around in such a way that you complete the task of a particular level and move to the next one. A “move” involves getting at least three candies in a row or column. The more like candies you can get in a row or column, the bigger the reward. For example, four candies in a row or column gets you a striped candy, which will knock out an entire row or column. Five candies in a T or L shape gets you a wrapped candy, which can be used to blast out a square of candies. Lastly, five candies in a line gets you a sprinkled candy, which can be used to wipe out all candies of a certain color. A “task” might be to clear all the jelly from around candies, move hazelnuts and cherries down to the bottom and off the board, accumulate a certain number of points in a certain number of seconds and so on.
What I’ve noticed is that the game seems to “know” a couple of things. First, it seems to know what I’m going to do next and often prevents me from doing so by the way candies fall from the previous move. Of course, moving one candy shifts others, but the game seems to let things roll down in certain ways that my desired moves are blocked. Second, it seems that when I make a move that’s not the best one available at the time, I’m often given another chance immediately after that poor choice of a move. For example, if I choose to put three candies in a row when I could have put four in a row elsewhere on the board, I’m given another chance for four, or sometimes five in a row immediately after that. It’s like the game is saying, “Um, hello! You’re not paying attention. You missed out on a great opportunity here, but I, being the nice game that I am, will give you another chance.”
So, I got to thinking…that’s kind of how God works in our lives sometimes. (See, even video games can teach us things! No, still not a rationalization.) At times, he prevents us from doing what we think is best because he wants us to do something he knows is better. At other times, he lets us falter and hopefully learn from it, do better the next time. Sometimes, he gives us multiple chances to do the right thing; sometimes we see it, sometimes we don’t. This process can actually involve closing several doors to guide us in a specific direction. One example in my life occurred in 2006. That year, my husband and I were living in Sierra Vista, Arizona, about 3 hours southeast of Phoenix. I had been out of the Army and in private practice for two years, and his job was stable as well. We had been married four years at that point and were hoping to build a bigger house in preparation for starting a family. Well, God had other plans! I kid you not, we tried FIVE different avenues of pursuit in this vein, all to no avail. After much consternation and prayer, we saw what we thought God was trying to show us: It’s time to move, guys! (“Um, hello! You’re not paying attention.”) At the time, my husband’s job was based out of Phoenix, and he had commuted for years. Sometimes, it felt like we weren’t even married given how often he had to be gone. We knew we would eventually move to Phoenix but didn’t think it was time. Then, God closed five doors, and we got the message: You have to actually live together to start a family! Needless to say, we’ve lived in Phoenix since 2006.
The moral of the story: God truly is everywhere and in control of everything. It truly is amazing what we can learn from the things he puts around us. We just have to remain open-minded and take in everything we can, see what we can learn, how we can grow from it. In this instance, I was reminded of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence…and I stand by my opinion that he used a video game to show me!
