The Right Pieces

The Right Pieces

I am not one who has a lot of games on her phone, but there is an app called Royal Match that I really like. From what I gather, it is similar to other matching games out there like Toy Blast, Candy Crush and, I’m sure, a myriad of others. Still, there is something about Royal Match that I like and so, I play it…likely more often than I should…but I digress.

Basically, in my game of choice, there are colored shapes that you have to match in order to accomplish a level/puzzle. If you’ve ever played Phase10, it’s basically the same concept. Collect or complete a certain phase in order to advance. Sometymes in Royal Match, I have to collect a certain number of a particular shape/color, sometymes I have to break a certain number of piggy banks, or defeat gophers or grow flowers or even fill the game board with jelly. Perhaps you are beginning to get why I like this game? ;)

Now, and likely with the other similar games, certain combinations of shapes/colors create boosters that help accomplish the requirements of the puzzle. For example, combining four shapes will create a rocket, five shapes in a straight line will create a color ball, AND five shapes in an L or T formation will create a bit of TNT. All of the boosters are tools to help complete the level. Depending on the tasks in the level, certain boosters are more helpful than others.

It all seems rudimentary until you add the key element of limited moves. Each level has a certain number of moves allotted to it. If you do not complete the level’s requirements in the given number of moves, you fail and have to repeat the level. That being the case, strategy is a huge part of playing this game. So, knowing all the booster combinations, what they do, and what impact they will have can be helpful. Sometymes, however, such knowledge is more of a hinderance than a help.

One day, I came to an incredibly challenging level. I tried several strategic approaches, but nothing seemed to work. I decided then to try a specific booster approach, however, boosters while helpful, are not always easy to come by. As I moved the pieces around, trying to create the right boosters, I realized that I was using up a lot of the allotted moves in order to try and create what I thought I needed. By the tyme I got the boosters in place, I didn’t have enough moves left to use them and complete the level. After several attempts, I had to stop playing for a while because I was out of chances.

As I put the game down and moved on to the things I should have been doing in the first place, I got to thinking that Royal Match is a lot like life. We have to move the pieces of our lives around in order to accomplish our tasks and complete our levels. We have to look around us and utilize what is available to create our booster opportunities. However, if we are not careful, we might find ourselves waiting for the right pieces to create the booster and miss out on the pieces we already have that will help us accomplish the level.

Jane wants to write a novel. Though she is a good writer, she is waiting to write until she understands what to do with her novel when it’s finished. Peter finished school and is offered a great job with a local company, but since the job isn’t directly related to his field of study, he turns it down to look for the job he thinks he wants. Instead of working toward the goal, Jane and Peter are using up their moves in order to try and create the boosters they think will help them move on to the next level.

Is that a common theme in life? Instead of trusting in God to give us the boosters we need when we need them, we focus on trying to create them ourselves and we end up making one failed attempt after another to complete the level. We waste our current opportunities looking for better ones. We boost ourselves right out of the blessings God has for us because, somehow, our strategy ends up centered on self, not on The Savior.

The truth is, it is easy to become reliant on ourselves to ‘create our own way’ or ‘pave our own path’ or whatever cliché you care to use. Life is busy and the world is constantly dropping pieces on our game board. We have to keep moving the pieces and keep trying to figure out where to put them, but we have to stay focused on the goal while we do. We cannot just shift the pieces around while we wait for the pieces we want to fall into place. If we do that, we will eventually run out of moves.

So, if we are struggling with important decisions in life or if we are frozen in life because we are afraid to make a move, perhaps we need to look around at our pieces and determine which ones are from God and which ones are from the world. If the piece is from the world, we need to move it off our board. If the piece is from God, then we need to focus on it and trust Him as we move it around, because that piece, my friend, is the Royal Match we need.