Monday Morning Devotion-July 1, 2024
A Pinball Life
And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. Colossians 3:23
*from January 2015
Back in my college days…yes, I can still remember that far back…I became a very proficient pinball machine player. That was back in the days before video games came out. I know, I know. Some of you younger readers are saying, "You mean there was a time when there weren't any video games? How did people get along without them?"
Well, this may even startle the younger generation more. There was a day when there was no such thing as a cell phone. But I digress. The pinball machine was kind-of a forerunner to video games and a take-off on board games. And for the businesses that owned them they were money-makers.
Anyway, I think my love for Fridays began with the pinball infatuation of my college days. As soon as the last class of the week was over (no self-respecting pinball wizard would ever schedule Friday night or Saturday classes) I would run back to the dorm, open the door to my room, throw my books in and wherever they landed they would stay until Monday morning when I would wake up and groggily grope around for the right book for the right class. (Are you getting the impression I was not a Rhodes Scholar?)
Well, I do have a diploma on my wall indicating that I graduated from college and believe it or not one that says I also earned a Master's Degree in Communications. And my major was not "Pinball", could have been, but they didn't offer that course. It was an, uh…, independent study.
OK so where is all this leading? Here's the deal. To play a pinball machine, after you have inserted a coin, you would strike a steel ball and it would go flying around the glass enclosed machine, kinda helter-skelter, bouncing off one bumper to the next, lighting them up when they were hit, making lots of noise, flashing lights and most important totaling up points. If you reached a certain number of points, you would get a free game. My friends and I became such pinball aficionados that we would have to leave free games on the machine in order to get back to the fraternity house for dinner. Couldn't afford to eat out because we had spent our money on pinball.
Now back in 2015 I came up with this Devotional idea when I was looking for and stressing ways that we can keep our lives from slipping into as Mark Batterson calls them in the book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day " a "pinball existence."
What would a pinball life look like? If we don't guard against it our life can become like that pinball…just bouncing from one experience to another without any control until it finally disappears into a hole at the bottom of the machine.
Now the pinball machine had flippers on the sides. The player could put his fingers on those buttons and when the ball came near and started descending to the bottom, he could push those buttons and flip the ball back towards the top of the machine, hitting more bumpers and accumulating more points and keeping the game alive.
We have flippers that we can push that will knock back bad stuff and change it into good things. But, just as on the pinball machine flippers, timing is very important. If you press a flipper in pinball too late, the ball will scoot past you or hit some of the bumpers with lower point totals.
Prayer is the flipper God has provided us with. Batterson calls prayer the "opportunity incubator." It is where God-sized ideas are born and "one God-sized idea is worth a thousand good ideas."
Life is full of surprises. When God is involved they become holy surprises. Batterson says he often wonders what "holy surprises God has up His sovereign sleeve."
Robert Taylor (FoxNews.com) writes, "A Holy Surprise will grab your attention. Holy surprises are the events and people which interrupt the expected plans of your day. When you live life with awareness of them your own humanity is enriched and expanded. Will you choose to allow them to punctuate your day?"
Some of the greatest moments in life are unscripted. It is within these that God chooses to do some of his most amazing work. How can we prepare ourselves for these holy surprises?
We should "pray as if it depends on God and work like it depends on us."
What is up to us is how we choose to be present to these "holy surprises." Taylor suggests four ways.
- Live life beyond the “if only” half-script of your life: When we start using
the “if-only” excuse we are dealing in fear and frustration. It plants a seed of
hopelessness that will grow like a weed. Be positive thinking, look for these
surprises, they could take any shape or form and are not time bound. Welcome
them. Get involved with them. Write an award-winning script for your life
using God’s Holy Surprises as feeder material.
2) Cultivate imagination each day: God gave us a mind that is capable of being used in many different ways. We use it to concentrate on a task we need to accomplish. We should also free our minds to imagine great things that can be done when God's omnipotence is at work. "Cultivating our imagination allows us to experience the holy surprises that interrupt our days with new eyes."
3) Expect life to engage you with unexpected people: God has a way of putting people in our lives to enhance our journey at the opportune time. Sometimes it might seem like the inopportune time, but God's timing is not always our timing. That is where the holy surprise involving people comes into play. "…the holy surprise of engaging with unexpected others (through our life stories) allows suspicion to give way to insights previously unimagined."
4) Choose to bring new life to others and yourself: "Acts of generosity or self-giving increase your happiness index." Sometimes a simple act of kindness can open up a holy surprise for us.
Being prepared for and recognizing those "holy surprises" is great protection against lapsing into a pinball life.
Monday Prayer: Lord, instead of our bouncing around from one unfulfilling experience to another like a helpless pinball continue to spring your holy surprises on us and enrich our Kingdom work. Amen!