Though I don’t play it a lot, I’ve always been a big fan of Chess. Reason being is that Chess, to me, simulates our lives if you think about it. We all have to play on the same board. We’re all made from the same substances. He who thinks many moves in advance is the one that wins. The parallels go on and on, but have you ever stopped to think about the pieces themselves?

If you’re not familiar with chess, you have several different pieces, all with unique abilities to move in certain directions. You have your pawns on the front line and several other pieces leading up to your most important piece, the King. The object of chess is to protect the King, and capture the opposing team’s King.

Life is a lot like that. God put us all on the same board, Earth. Some of us start out in different positions, such as a front line pawn, while some of us are born into a lot of security, with a large supporting cast around us like the King or Queen. However, unlike Chess, God gives us the free will to be any chess piece we want in life.

That’s right, you can assume any role you want in life, whether it be a pawn or a King/Queen. How is that you ask?

Everyday you define your role. How you move, how you operate, how you plan. In chess, a pawn can move one space, at most two spaces. A Queen on the other hand can move in any direction, as far as she wants. Think about your life. There are no limitations on how much you can accomplish in a day. No one will ever tell you, you’ve gone to far today, you’ve accomplished too much, and you must stop here. We place those limitations on ourselves sometimes. We don’t strive for royalty, we settle for being pawns.

God doesn’t want that for us. God wants us to move about freely, He wants us to cover “the entire board.” That’s why He put us on it.

In Chess, inexperienced players usually sacrifice their pawns early in the game and try and protect “the important pieces.” Losing a pawn doesn’t affect us, but losing a bishop, a queen, and especially a King hurts us. In life, we define our roles based on the decisions we make. Too many people lead careless, uncalculated lives, running right into the enemy. When you think only about your own motives and not those of the people around you, you’re setting yourself up to get captured by the enemy and wiped off the board, so to speak.

Look at people you admire and look up to. There’s a good chance they live their lives as royalty. They put a solid support group around them. They work well with others. They make calculated moves and they plan very well. Aside from that, when it’s time to make a move in life, they strike hard and cover a lot of ground.

You can do the same. You can be Kings and Queens on this Chess Board of Life. All it takes is a change in your mindset. You must live your life as a piece that matters, and subsequently, people around you will start treating you as such.
Always remember, at the end of the game the King and the Pawn go in the same box. Make the most of your time on this Earth, live a life of a piece that matters, and win!

-Baylor