The Winning Word

I found a Deluxe Edition Scrabble CrossWord Game at an estate sale. That means I paid a couple bucks for a $30-$50 game! The kind I’ve always wanted with a turntable and recessed squares to hold tiles. It’s in perfect condition, and I thought, never used, until today when I found a pad of “Official Score Sheets” in a recessed area in the bottom of the box. The three on top had been meticulously filled in, and the penciled date was recorded as 7/7/90.

The columns were neatly marked with scores of Gene, Dad, Mom and Tonya for two games on the first sheet. Tonya was the consistently high scorer except for once when Gene and Tonya played a couple of games with Lynn and Dale, and Lynn emerged the winner. Tonya was ahead on a game that was obviously interrupted as evidenced by a half-filled sheet. Maybe because the kids wanted to play, judging from the names of Katie, Anne and Mary in childish print beside their (lower) scores on the next sheet.

I was reminded of our church’s “game night” that we had every Friday in Mississippi when people were encouraged to bring their board games for an evening of fun and fellowship. My favorite was Scrabble, played on a unique-looking, revolving board treasured by a youngish, fun-filled lady who had inherited it from someone in her family. I remember the board sitting on an octagonal base, with sloped sides for each player, letter trays resting discreetly out of the view of other players at the bottom. Janell always carefully packed and put it away in the huge box at the end of the evening.

The major competitor for Scrabble was a game of Mexican Dominoes, presided over by a sprightly octogenarian who gave all participants a run for their money (figuratively speaking). Her crown of white curls bobbed in excitement as she won almost every game, her delighted laugh cackling above the howls of mock disappointment from her gentlemen opponents.

Both the domino expert and the vintage game board owner are gone now. My Mississippi friends have finished their game of life; their scores have been tallied, with any discrepancies paid in full by the blood of Jesus. The anonymous people recorded on the score sheet in my box are more than 20 years older now, possibly still in the midst of life’s game, or even having gone on.

Thankfully, our scores don’t have to be winning ones to obtain eternal life. We only have to come to saving faith in Jesus. Like Paul, may we say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” II Timothy 4:7-8.