Saturday, June 12

But I already have a plan!

Our family enjoys playing board and card games very much. Tonight, we decided to play Niagara. To win, you either need to have four gems of one color, one of each color, or any combination of seven. I had three purple gems and was poised to get a fourth; in short, I was about to win. The Mailman noticed, and tried to convince Son #2 to use his move to steal my gem. "But I already have a plan!", he countered. "Yes, but your plan won't matter if Mommy wins. You have to steal her gem." "No. I have a plan, I told you." As much as I would like to think he just didn't want to steal from me and cost me the win, I know better. I owe my victory to stubbornness, not compassion.
I'll take the win, no problem. Son #2 took the heat from everyone else. "Why did you let her win?" By now you know the answer, because he had a plan. What he didn't have, and what we all often lack, was flexibility and perspective. Had my son changed his plan tonight, he might very well have ended up the winner. I wonder how often we hold ourselves back by holding on to our plans. Coming to this realization hadn't been part of my plan when I pulled out the game tonight, but as we now see, sometimes plans change.

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