Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Life Is a Lot Like Jenga

Life is a lot like Jenga.

Are you familiar with Jenga? Jenga is a game consisting of numerous rectangular wooden blocks. At the start of the game, the blocks are arranged into a tower, built with 18 intertwined rows of three blocks each. The order of play is determined, then each player in turn takes a block from any row underneath the top row and places it on the top. Play continues until the tower is toppled—the loser is the one who causes the tower to topple.

How is life like Jenga? Consider this: during his turn, a Jenga player is confronted by lots and lots of choices. There are 54 blocks in a Jenga tower, and during any given turn as many as 53 of the blocks can be selected and moved by the player. Not every choice, though, is wise. Some blocks in a Jenga tower can be repositioned with little effort; their present location is not key to the integrity of the tower. Other blocks, however, support the weight of the tower, and, if moved, will cause a crash.

You probably get the point. In life, we are confronted by many, many choices. Some choices are rather inconsequential, and many require little serious thought. But, there are choices which are very significant and can alter our life and the lives of others. So, at those moments, we need to stop and think, and use the wisdom and direction God has given us.

1 comment:

TREY MORGAN said...

Hi Jeff. Hope you're well brother. Love the Jenga concept. I did a sermon series on "the Games of Life" a couple of years ago. I did Risk, Life, Sorry, Trivial and a few others. I never could come up with a Jenga one... till now.

Thanks.