There was a game show where the contestant has to cross a body of water by jumping from one boulder to another. Some boulders were unstable. If he steps on one, it flips or collapses. If he can’t recover in nanoseconds, he’s in the water and game over.
Some boulders were stable, solid, and safe. But the boulders were all identical. Gray, flat, stones floating in the water. There was no way of telling which were stable and which were not.
One of the best ways to cross the water was to move super fast, so fast that even if you step on an unstable boulder, inertia propels you forward anyway. Some contestants were able to move that fast, landing only one foot on each boulder, they stayed in motion almost undeterred by unstable boulders. Others were not so fortunate.
It was really a game of chance because even the fast ones didn’t make it all the time. Everyone can only guess at the right path and hope they were right.
Life sometimes feels like that. We can only take one step at a time. Move from one moment to another. One opportunity to another. From one stepping stone to another.
But some stones are unstable and we fall in the water. We lose our footing, our momentum, our confidence. It feels like game over. And it’s not fair that we have no way of knowing which stones are okay to step in.
It’s not fair that life feels like a game of chance. We can only guess at the right path and hope we’re right.
What hope is there, then, for those of us without the necessarily skills to make it? For those of us who can’t run fast enough, jump far enough, or swim to safety?
As children of God, though, the right path is laid out in front of us. It’s the one God is walking. All we need to do is follow our Guide. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?
Simple it may be, but easy it’s not. The path God has us on isn’t guaranteed to be easy. If anything, it’s guaranteed to be hard because the world hates His children. Because some people are intentionally manipulative and unjust. Because life isn’t fair.
But it’s worth it. It’s guaranteed to be worth it.
God guides us and will provide all our needs. He will be our source of strength, our source of life, the One who will make us flourish.
When you’re jumping from one stone to the next, moving moment by moment, and uncertain of what’s going to happen next, remember that God is with you.
Life is not a game of chance because God has you in His hands.
You don’t have to guess at the right path because God will guide you.
You don’t need to run fast enough, jump far enough, or swim to safety because God can help you walk on water.
