Deep Thoughts

Direction determines destination.

Pastor Clare Loughrige said something in church this morning that really struck me. Pastor Scott did, too. But what Clare stated can be completley related to chess and life. Since this is a chess blog that is "not just about chess", I'll go into it.

As it was explained to her by a Haitian missionary right then, she said, "Sometimes, we don't really want what God has for us. We want what works for us."

How true. If it isn't convenient, or if it doesn't serve ourselves or our interests in some fashion, we tend to basically ignore it. The jist of it was that we should, as Christians & believers, allow God to lead us.

Minimal in comparison, but this is also a principle in chess. Instead of doing what we want to do, we should do what the position requires us to do. Wiser men and wiser chess players know this. If you can read or interpret a position, it'll tell you what is required for the plan. If you don't listen or heed its instruction, you may not neccessarily lose but in some form you'll eventually pay even if your dues are just knowing you didn't play the strongest possible move. Using the mentallity of Fischer, it was not the truth.

So, how do we learn to read a chess position? I'm not an authority on chess or God. So, my answer would be - lots of interaction & study, I guess.

It's a search for truth. There are certain amounts of pain and freedom that result from the honesty and if you've tried it before, you know that doing the right thing is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

Seek and ye shall find.

:)