I spent yesterday afternoon, evening, and on into the early morning playing one game of mahjong. As an early novice, I am almost comfortable with Chinese characters in family tiles. The characters for the winds and big tiles are still baffling. My level in a game 200 plus years old is at best an early novice. For anyone interested, once you get the basics, the game can be fun, especially with friends.
My takeaways from the ten plus hours include the following.
Be prepared, especially when playing with beginners, for the game to consume lots of time. Even with someone sitting in for me, the relentless intensity took its own toll. In the Singaporean version of the game, there were 16 rounds and depending on who wins or if it is a draw, potential loops with each banker. In the end, we played more than 16 rounds to get to the end of the game. Looking back, it doesn’t seem like we played that long, but patient perseverance is an essential part if you intend to stay in the game.
Strategy choices are essential. Our teacher talked of embracing a strategy within the first few moves. While opportunities may cause one to reconsider, the advice was to pick a path and pursue it to the end. I felt as if I was told to listen and apply the psalmist’s words; “I’m not going to sleep, not even take time to rest, until I find a home for God, a house for the Strong God of Jacob.” (Psalm 132.4, 5)
The game, like life, never goes exactly as one plans or anticipates. Choices made by others, chance, and combinations of the two will lead to a reality that is very different than the one you created with your imagination. One can learn from what one does, to a point. It is critical that one does not stop with learning. Applying it in the moment at hand, ever changing, every evolving, is crucial!
With a new day, I find myself taking yesterday’s lessons into the moments at hand.
