When I was younger, one of my favorite video games to play was Pac-Man. I loved Pac-Man because after spending some time on one level of the game, I was typically able to figure out a pattern for success, master that level, and move up to the next. With every new level came new patterns, new speeds, new ghosts, and new rewards. Now that I am older, I realize how many life lessons I actually learned from that game.
First of all, there are ghosts, or enemies, at every level. They don't go away. You just have to learn their patterns and deal with them as they come. If you aren't able to identify them and their patterns, and develop a strategy for dealing with them on level one, you don't have to worry about dealing with them at the "next level" because you will never make it there. They will eat you alive. But your enemies are not smarter than you; as a matter of fact, they're pretty predictable. Dying where you are or moving up to the next level is not determined by your enemy; it's determined by your commitment to the process. Stay committed to the process of learning the enemy's strategies so that you know how to handle him when he comes. I guess it's like the lesson that Paul taught the Corinthians - don't be "ignorant of the devil's devices." Figure that joker out. Know that wherever you go, he is going to show up.
Another lesson that I learned was that new levels provide new challenges, but also new rewards. It just makes sense doesn't it? College was more challenging than high school; but the end result was a degree instead of a diploma. Supervising tends to be more challenging than just working; but the end result, for most of us, is a larger paycheck. Is it reasonable for us to expect that bigger and better will come without new challenges? No. Not at all. Don't just focus on the challenges though; remember the rewards. Some are temporal; others are eternal. Take the time to celebrate them all.
Pac-Man also taught me that one level always somehow prepares you for the next. I'm not sure who developed Pac-Man, but they did a great job of what Lev Vygotsky called scaffolding. Quite simply, part of the purpose of your experience on one level is to prepare you for what you will experience on the next. As challenging as things may seem sometimes, I now keep in mind that life is a work in progress, and that my past and present often high five each other because they work so well together to prepare me for what's to come. So I've started to gripe a little less, and celebrate a little more, about what happens and when it happens. It's all just a part of the preparation process.
The fourth and final lesson coming to mind right now is quite simple: sources of restoration, revival, and power have been strategically placed in the mazes of our lives, and they are there for a reason. We need the occasional power boost; something that gives us extraordinary strength and the ability to do what we could not do without it. We can conquer much more with supernatural power than we can with our ordinary meager strength. So I'm learning to search for those sources. Some are very obvious and I know them very well. Other sources are not so obvious and I have to do a little searching to uncover them; but they are all very meaningful and our lives are better because of them.
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