The other day my husband needed my phone. I sat down in the playroom with my two boys and my busy-body self could only sit still for so long. I gutted the room, reorganized and straightened everything. It was amazing what I accomplished in two hours – without my phone.
It reminded me of staying in the hospital without a cell phone all week long. We had time for deep conversation, reflection and playing games. Sure, there were TV’s, but I’m not much of a TV fan. I’d sit still long enough for a third of a movie and then I usually walked the halls. I’d jump back in at the end and ask too many questions.
Have you ever skipped through the middle pages of a book to read the ending? I’ve done that a few times with mediocre books. Ones that I feel aren’t worth my time, but my curiosity still beckons me to find out how it ends.
I’d think about the ending of my hospital stay a lot. It was my short-term goal, so I did everything in my power to get discharged. In the meantime, I did things to keep me busy – to keep the clock ticking.
Toby, another patient, asked me to play cards with him. Actually, he told me to play cards. I really wasn’t in the game playing mood, but he was insistent. My brain was kind of foggy and I dreaded trying to remember the rules. But I followed him into the recreation room anyways.
As we sat down, he said, “You win.”
“Huh?”
“You win. Every time we play, you will win,” he said.
“I find that doubtful as I can’t even remember the rules to Rummy,” I responded.
We decided to play War at first to ease back into card games. It had been a while since we played cards at the house.
Toby kept his eyes on me as we flipped our stack of cards. He had these gorgeous blue eyes and a great smile. If I had known any single ladies at the time, I would have recommended the hospital to find some handsome, nice men. They may come with a little baggage, but who doesn’t?
I didn’t ask, but I guessed Toby also experienced psychosis like me. He seemed to have it together pretty well and he was set to leave after a short visit. I also knew he was a shift worker at a local shipyard and shift workers are prone to psychosis. I didn’t know how common psychosis was until I studied it.
He could keep a beat when a group of us were outside listening and singing to the radio. I called him Toby Mac, so I could remember his name. He just laughed. I was surprised he knew the band I referred to.
He laid a card down and I flipped another over.
“See, you win again!” he said.
He was right. We’d been playing War for at least thirty minutes and I had won every hand. Then I tried my luck at Rummy. Sure enough, I won each time. I started wondering about the potency of the drugs we were on. Maybe, they should dial the dosage down a bit – before I get full on “Spidey power.”
“Maybe we should hit the casino after this,” I joked.
We both just laughed and continued our games.
If you look at the world right now, there isn’t much to laugh about. Except for the silly memes that break the tension. I love knowing there are other people out there with the same sense of humor.
The world is divided into two teams – Good and Evil. It looks like our team, Good, isn’t even in the game right now. The headlines are rampant with malignant, horrible actions of a team who loves sin. Every sin in the book creating a calamity of everything.
But our team, the ones who hold fast to the commandments, loves Jesus. And I’m going to spoil the ending of the Book in case you haven’t read it – He wins.
He will flip a card and The War will be Won.
Love Wins.
We win.
And You Win, because He Wins.
Hold on until the End.
There’s a New Beginning with only One team left.
