Betting

I have a small electronic poker game that I occasionally play. I kind of bet on a whim. You can bet up to 50 in increments of 10. If I'm feeling good I bet 50, if I'm not feeling it at all I bet 10, other than that I bet somewhere in the middle. Obviously there is no rhyme or reason to it, you have to bet before you see any cards. I got to wondering what that says about me and how I approach my life. Do I hold back too much? Am I totally random on how much I am willing to risk? Why place a partial bet? You either believe you've got it or you don't, why go halfway? There's no benefit to it, it's just being chicken and living life in the middle. It's kind of a cop out, a way to NOT make a decision when a decision has to be made. The only thing it accomplishes is to make me made when I SHOULD have gone all in.

Other life lessons from poker:

1. Sometimes you are so busy looking for what you want you don't see what you've got. If you are focused on the possibility of getting THE card you need to create THE hand you are aiming for then you are likely to miss any other possibility. The result is that you could fold a hand that could have won because you just didn't see it until it was too late. Are you focused on a particular outcome in life? Are you frustrated because you are getting what you want? Maybe it's time to take a fresh look at your hand. There's probably something there you aren't seeing.
2. Sometimes all you see is what you've got and you miss what's going on around you. Have you ever been completely excited about what's going on in your life and been blindsided by what you've missed in someone else's? Sometimes you just look like a complete jerk, but sometimes you end up losing big time! Don't forget to take a look around, and remember, not all their cards are on the table.
   
3. Sometimes you don't have faith in what you've got and you overestimate what others have. Some of us are so down on ourselves that we just can't see that what we have to give could be valuable. Whatever we have we feel others have something better, therefore it just doesn't matter what we have. Do you really want to stand before God one day and explain that you didn't accomplish what He put you on this earth to do because you thought someone else's hand was better?