S04E085, Play the cards you’re dealt! Andy B 2 Minute Video

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When you’re playing cards you can wish a better hand, as much as you like. But, at some point, you have to accept the cards you’ve been dealt.

And it is much the same in life. We can wish for a better car, a better job, a better house, a better retirement plan, better health. But wishing just pushes us deeper into a place of being sad and depressed.

Wishing doesn’t change what is. It just robs us of our ability to enjoy what is.

Rather than wishing away our lives, we need to accept what is. We don’t accept it as something that can never change, but we do need to begin to change from where we are at

For example. If you want to run a 4 minute mile, you don’t start by running a 4 minute mile. You train hard and, over time, you’ll get faster and, eventually, you may be able to run that golden 4 minute mile. But all that training and effort doesn’t guarantee you’ll achieve what you want. Because plenty of things can stop you!

So, enjoy the life before you. And start by enjoying the hand you’re dealt- it simply means accepting what you can’t change, and moving on from that point!

With God by your side, you’ll get where He needs you to!

Just a thought...

Andy B

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0:07
So another Andy B 2 Minute Video. And, as a family, we quite enjoy playing board games and, at the weekend, we decided we play some poker. We don't gamble, but we have quite a good fun. It's like a mature version of Monopoly. It's great!

0:20
We really enjoy poker. But, we were thinking, what else can we play? We've got these, this, this whole game setup thing with places for people, we've got the chips and all the rest of it. What else can we do? So, we thought, well, Pontoon? As a young lad, I used to play that lots and lots and lots. Pontoon, or 21, Blackjack, depending on where you are in the world. We thought, well, we can play that too. That should be a good fun game. So we learned to play Blackjack, Pontoon, 21, as well. And we had great fun playing that on Father's Day, it was really good!

0:49
But, what struck me as we were playing it, is sometimes you you have the cards in front of you. And you think well, if only I had X, Y and Z, I'd have a better hand.

1:00
Perhaps if you're playing poker you're thinking, well, if only I had another three aces, to match the one in my hand, I'd have a four of a kind, that'd be a good hand. Or maybe if I had a few more hearts, I'd have a Royal Flush. And then I'd beat everybody. But the thing is, you look at your hand, and you think, well, I haven't got four hearts. In fact, they're all mixed everything. And really, I'm not gonna do anything with any of these.

1:22
And that's what happens in life, isn't it? We think, if only we had a new car. If only we had a bigger house. If only our children would do this. Or, if only my wife would do that. And we get into this mentality of 'If only it was something else'. It's that grass is greener on the other side idea. And we had it in cards 'cos you you wanna to win and we can have it in life too.

1:48
So where in your life have you got this set of hand, this set of cards in your hand, and you're looking at it and you're thinking, I just wish it was something else. 'Cos here's the thing. Wishing it was something else is not gonna change a thing.

2:01
Not necessarily going to recommend you go off and watch Friends. But there was a really funny part of an episode of Friends, where the three members, of the two rooms, who got really fed up. They said we're just fed up with being poor, I don't want to be poor anymore. And one of the friends said, It doesn't work that way. Just 'cos you don't wanna be, it's not going to change it, you're still going to wake up tomorrow with the same bank balance.

2:23
Whatever we do, we're gonna be in the same place. Not that nothing will ever change. But wishing it to be different doesn't do a whole lot. It's what we do that matters. And part of that is accepting what is, and accepting what we have. Not because it will never change. But accepting what is because that's where we're at right now.

2:43
Just a thought