Dots

I'll never forget being challenged by a 9 year old boy to a game of dots. The game was going well; an equal number of S and J boxes graffitied the Spaghetti Factory kid's menu. Then he made his fatal move. By drawing one line, Shane had opened up the door for me to unleash a brutal attack and dominate the game. As I completed each box, and with an odd sense of pride labeled each with a "J", I struggled to understand why the very kid who consistently beats me at tic-tac-toe had made such a foolish move. About 15 boxes later, it was Shane's turn. Instead of a look of defeat, I was shocked to see Shane smiling as he picked up his crayon and proceeded to complete what seemed like 30 or 40 "S" filled boxes. He went on to beat me by well over 60 points. Defeated again by a 9 year old.

It occurred to me that while I was playing turn by turn, Shane was plotting the best move 5 turns ahead. God handles our life a lot like Shane handled that game. While I was looking for the perfect box to close, Shane was looking at the whole board. He knew that even though his next move would make no sense to me, it needed to happen for his plan to be fulfilled. I only get to see my life minute by minute, day by day. God sees my life all at once. He knows this heartache today will pave way for His plan to be fulfilled down the road. He doesn't sit there and say "what move will be good now?" Instead he carefully plots each move. He plots each victory, each defeat, each heartache and each joy so that His plan for me will come be and the victory will inevitably be His.