My Personal Pages

Friday, October 23, 2009

It All Goes Back In the Box



Take it from someone who has been there, and who has come to the understanding that the fact of the matter is that all the stuff we accumulate in this world will never satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. All the possessions we can buy and all the experiences we can purchase will never fill the great empty hole at the end waiting to swallow us up - it resides in every person’s soul.

I was listening to The Zeitgeist Movement Weekly Report with Peter Joseph which I highly recommend listening to, which can be done by clicking on the radio button located on the left hand column of this page. The BlogTalkRadio player will default to the latest blog.

Peter's weekly blog opens with Pastor John Ortberg giving his popular sermon about growing up playing Monopoly with his grandmother, Golda Hall. It quickly reminded me of his book that I reviewed of the title, 'When the Game is Over, it all goes back in the box'. I did not end up purchasing the book because I did not enjoy the heavy religous overtones of the book.  However, I did very much appreciate the underlying message, which in my opinion outweighs the religous theme, and can be integrated into any person's world view.

His grandmother taught him the finer points of playing board games. He explained that when he first started playing Monopoly, he always wanted to hang on to his money as long as possible, because you never know what the Chance card might turn up next. We all know that the board can be risky. I'm sure he held onto all his money as long as he could....that's usually how beginners play.

But his grandmother knew how to play the game. She understood that you don’t win without risk, and she didn’t play for second place. We all know how to play Monopoly, we all know she would have to spend every dollar she got. She would have to buy every piece of property she landed on, and she would have to mortgage every property she owned to the hilt in order to buy everything else on the board.

You see, John’s grandmother understood what he did not – that accumulating is the name of the game in Monopoly, that money is how you keep score, and that the race goes to the swift. She played with skill, passion, and reckless abandon. Inevitably, she would become Master of the Board. I can imagine that John would land on Boardwalk one time too many, and he would hand over to her all that was left of his money and put his little race car marker away.

When John was ten, he spent a summer playing Monopoly every day with a kid named Steve who lived kitty-corner from him. Gradually it dawned on John that the only way to win the game was to make a total commitment to acquisition. No mercy. No fear. What his grandmother had been showing him for so long finally sank in. By the fall, when they sat down to play, John was more ruthless than his grandmother was. His palms were sweaty. He was twitching with excitement. And he would play without softness or caution. Slowly, cunningly, he exposed the soft underbelly of his grandmother’s vulnerability, and relentlessly he drove her off the board.

From this old widowed lady who had taught him how to play the game, he would take everything she had. He destroyed her, and he watched her give up her last dollar and quit in utter defeat. It was the greatest moment of his young life. He had won. He was the Master of the Board!

But then his grandmother had one more lesson to teach him. The greatest lesson came at the end of the game. It was when she said, “Now John, it’s time to put it all back in the box.” All the houses and hotels, all the property – Boardwalk and Park Place, the railroads, the utility companies went back in the box. All the thousands of dollars, they all went back in the box. You see, when the game is over, it all goes back in the box.

John didn’t want it to go back in the box. He wanted to leave it out as a perpetual memorial to his skill in playing the game so well. He wanted to bronze it so others could admire his tenacity and ability. But it was not to be. After the game, it all goes back in the box.

So it is with life, my friends. When you and I come to the end of our days, all the things we’ve purchased, all the trips we’ve taken, all the material possessions which have dominated our time and attention to buy and maintain and repair – it all goes back in the box. We will take none of it with us.

If you look around, you'll see that left to our own devices, we seek all the worldly things – possessions, money, good looks, power – because we think they will bring us fulfillment. I'm here to tell you that it's a Illusion. They are all just props, and when we check out of this life, we have to give them all back to the great Illusionist. They are just on loan. They’re not ours. They all go back in the box.

Human beings are the only creatures on the planet whose frontal lobes are so developed that they know the game will end. This is our glory, our curse, our warning, and our opportunity.

In Jerusalem, hundreds of synagogues have been built by Jews from around the world. One was built by a group from Budapest and according to their ancient custom, they had a coffin built right into the wall. There isn’t a body in it, they explain to visitors.

"It is simply present as a silent witness to remind us that it all goes back in the box."

Jesus said the object of life is not to accumulate great wealth by the world’s standards but instead to be rich toward God (Luke 12:21).

Don’t spend your life trying to be Master of the Board. It’s a sucker’s game. You can’t beat the house, but you can have wealth through the abundance of source. 

Hollywood stars, school janitors, Hip Hop singers, and Mexican gardeners – It will not matter.
"The message I received from this sermon, and the book had me questioning my priorities in life."
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