Life is Like
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
Life is like Chess.
There is an opening part of life, a middle game and an end game in life. In the opening part of life, you are deciding what structure your life is going to have and how you are going to use your pieces. At the opening stage of life, you simply are setting up your structure, you aren’t expecting to make big wins, being cautious not to get too aggressive. Making big aggressive moves can sometimes cost you the structure you have been developing even when it looks like you are gaining material. Some structures work better or worse for different people. The longer you hold on to a structure that isn’t working for you, the harder it will be to find one that will. Don't rush your structure development even if you can see exciting things ahead.
In the middle game of life, you can still change your structure, but it will take much more time and sometimes material. At this point, you’re mostly using the structure you’ve set up, and continuing to advance the important pieces in your life to make them more useful. If you are using your structure well and are continuing to develop your pieces, you can lose an important piece and still be ok as your structure carries you through. If you haven’t developed your pieces correctly, it’s urgent to get them in order before life gives you exchanges. Often you have to figure out how to use those exchanges to develop a new structure and reorganize your remaining people. When life makes an unexpected exchange and you lose a piece you were planning to develop, use your structure to direct your way forward.
As you enter into the end game, you look up at the board, see how many pieces you have left and determine how you are going to use them. At this point, you want to keep yourself in the center of the board making sure you can influence your important pieces. Often life will create an opposition as it attempts to move you away from your important squares, but hold to your structure and maintain a close distance to what’s important. You know how the game ends, God will help you win if you let Him set your structure and develop your important pieces as you remain close to Him.
Life is like writing.
In writing, there is an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The introduction sets the structure, the body develops the elements of the work, and the conclusion summarizes and closes out the work. An opening Bible verse sets the structure for these passages, as the ways of a child set the path that the mature person will walk in. The body of any literary work builds upon the structure that was set up in the introduction. It makes the introduction come to life with unique developments that create tactical advantages by honing in on the reader's attention with the heightened interaction. The conclusion ties it all together and delivers a cohesive message to the reader, which delivers a mature message with a checkmate. Don't rush through the stages of life.