Well, last night we had the most wonderful, aka super competitive, 🙂 time being together as a family, playing a board game called “Settlers of Catan.” (Ever heard of it??)

This is a well-loved game that my two boys, Hunter and Brayden, and I play ALL the time, and when we play, the stakes are high!! If one of the boys wins, they get 20 minutes of “screen time” of their choice. (Oohhh, ahhh.)

But for me—yes, even “old moms” who win should get a reward, I say?? :)—well, I receive one of the best REWARDS a girl could get: a half-hour head rub as I drift and drool into a deep sleep. (Oh yes, I hear your jealous sigh from over here. LOL!!)

So you can see why we play, and play a LOT. And even more so since being in COVID isolation. Yes, there have definitely been extra games going on AND because we are all home together, even my oh-so-rarely-ever-plays-a-board-game-bald-headed husband has joined in!! 🙂

YES, we pulled out an official “FFF” last night, and everyone played a game after supper. (And for those of you “uninformed people,” in our house “FFF” stands for Forced Family Fun, where you WILL come, you WILL play, and you WILL have fun with no complaints until the end … when pretty much everyone has forgotten what they wanted to “moan and groan” about. 🙂 Sounds crazy, but it works!)

OK, but back to the game. Let me explain some basic background RULES and how it works.   Each player gets two house pieces and two road pieces and takes turns putting them down on the board to your best advantage, with each piece of the board hosting a number. When the dice are rolled, and if your house is on a piece with THAT number showing, you receive a coordinating piece of “product” in the form of either wheat, ore, wood, brick or sheep. You collect as many pieces of “product” as you can so you can build more roads, more houses, and then eventually cities earning more POINTS until ta-da! You top out at 10 and are now the King of Catan!!! Congratulations!!!!

Now, I am sure you are all just DYING to know who won?? Well, before I answer that, let me explain the styles and strategies used in choosing where to “pick and stick” the original two houses and roads. So the one player, who will remain nameless (ahem, Darin) 🙂 played without fully knowing the RULES and so, placed “poorly” by placing their houses on low-rolling numbers. And though it “looked” like they had a lot of options, and it would bring a lot of product,  all he got was way too much SHEEP. (And what can you DO with a ton of sheep??!!)

And then my daughter, Hailey, well, she placed her pieces “okay and sort of more in the middle ground.” Yup, she ended up not being in the worst spots, but not nearly the best either. She went for low-risk as she didn’t want to be “last,” but in reality, this fear of failing made her miss the moment to win!

But what about me, the MASTER Catan Champion??!! Oh, here comes more confession time. 🙂 I actually rolled highest and got to place FIRST (a super-strong advantage!!) and so I did, and did it “Carol-Conroy style”—quick, fast and in a hurry. 🙂 And yet, by rushing through and being all “done,” I totally missed out on SEEING the best spots on the board.

But Hunter? Our super-smart 16-year-old strategy man?? Well, he took a TON of TIME to stop, pause, and review the WHOLE board before placing his pieces. So guess what? Even though he placed third out of four players, he actually picked the BEST spots using this “THINKING THROUGH” strategy. Yup, each round we went, he just got more product, more cards and more POWER, until the end when he beat us with a mighty blow!!

And so, why bring all this up? Well, it seems to me that a little “FFF” Game of Conroy-Catan kinda reflects how we may choose to go about in our daily “Game of LIFE.”

“Huh!!??” you say?? Well, let’s review those front-end styles and strategies and pally them to you:

1. You can pick your “place’” by plopping decisions quick and fast like I did (but in the end, miss out on the best stuff because you are in a RUSH).

2. You can go “mediocre in the middle” like Hailey, fearing to “fail,” but not moving forward much at all and missing out on the wonderful wins.

3. You can play completely UNinformed like Darin and make plenty of UNintentional-mistakes and spend a lot of time building and REbuilding, with the results of having too much of ONE thing and racing around trying to buy everything else.

4. OR you can CHOOSE to be like Hunter—and never thought I would say this, LOL!—and you can take your TIME, pause, reflect and THINK THROUGH before you DO. Yeah, INVESTING in well-laid-out CHOICES before you even begin to “play or proceed” in your day, just where and WHY you’ll place your “property” (aka your time, effort and energy) and in what strategic way, proceeding forward with a firm plan in place and sticking with it all the way to the END.

See how there can be “Lessons for Life” from this simple game?? 🙂

But I think my heart also “heard” a SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE from it, and it is this. Just like I get to “PICK and STICK” and daily decide where I put my “pieces in  LIFE,” I get to CHOOSE which WORLDVIEW I will use to make those decisions on.

Yup, I get to pause and “think through” and determine what really does matter—not just making a decision for THAT minute, moment or morning, but for the whole day, every day, all the way to the end.

And for me?? I oh-so-slowly learnt over time to choose God’s truths, voice, commands and words over anything. 

I’ve thought about it a lot. 

I’ve “placed my pieces” in His hands.

I’m trusting my TIME to His planned-out promises.

And I’m CHOOSING to stick with it to the END, no matter what anyone else says.

Super simple, super clean, super freeing. And, ya, mini victory for me, but we can ALL “win in the game of LIFE” when we choose God to be our GUIDE!!!

“Pick and stick,” girls, and “Think through before you DO,” then decide and CHOOSE just what, where, and WHY you will DO today what you will do.

Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Beautiful Women of God.

Carol 😉

“The WISDOM of the prudent is to give THOUGHT to their ways….” Proverbs 14:8a

“… But those who plan what is GOOD find love and faithfulness.” Proverbs 14:22b

“The simple believe anything, but the prudent give THOUGHT to their ways….” Proverbs 14:15

CHOOSE to Check IN and Check out:

“The PICK”: Revelations 14:12, Proverbs 4:20-26, Proverbs 8:32-33.

“The STICK”: Ecclesiastes 7:8, Psalm 27:13-14, Proverbs 30:1b

And “No need to RUSH”: Proverbs 21:5, Psalms 39:6 

Thank you and BLESS you for your sharing this precious piece of your day—your TIME. 🙂