Eternity: the real deal

It has settled over me and my household like a blanket. There is a deep, long-lasting ache. And with it has come a sobriety. The vanity of this world, the pain and emptiness that sin has brought into this life everywhere I look, and the brevity of human years have all been freshly revealed. The masquerade has ended, the bluff is exposed. The enemy played a card but foolishly revealed his hand. Loser. Total loser.

He wants us to play the game. He wants us to live for this...this charade. But lest I become lacking in caution, I remind myself that the game has not ended. We who are still playing must persevere to the finish, to the final card, the last play, watching carefully the subterfuge of this artful opponent. And then we cash in.

And so you can see, the game itself is not really the goal; it is the end of the game for which we play. There may be thrill in discovering the bluff, exhilaration in the challenge, delight in the collected piles of chips along the way, but in the end it is the victor who has the real joy. When the game is finished, when all is said and done, winning is all that matters. The reason we play is to win.

So the opponent blundered; he revealed his hand. His trickery, intended to derail us, causes us instead to look more closely at our own cards. We remember that this game is not a game, not some mere charade - it is the real deal. Time, talent, fortune, and energy are important, but only if they are put in His hand and used to bring us to eternity, to the true reality. And to eternity we must go.

Oh, that we might not get caught up with his charade - this game of life - and lose sight of true reality. The real deal. In the end it's all that really counts.