Recently I was reading an article about the video games that came out in 2016.  Writes the author, "My favorite games did exactly what this year did: they took away control. They moved at a pace all their own.’ (From a Wired article: ‘In A Chaotic Year, All the Best Games Took My Control Away.’)

Confession - I got a PS 4 for Christmas – I like gaming . . . But, as with everything in life, it must be entered upon with moderation. It can be addictive. It can take hold of one’s life.

Frankly, I like the ‘open-source’ games where I wander and explore at my own leisure, do what I want where and when I want – for as long as I want. You can move on in the story and pursue the suggested exploits, but basically you’re free as a bird.

Notes the article: “Take, say, an Assassin’s Creed game, which sets you in a broad open world with tasks from end to end. You can do some of them, or all; you can explore slowly or plow from objective to objective, never looking up long enough to notice the scenery. Find all the collectibles or pretend they don’t exist. It’s up to you. You’re in charge.”

But some games are more directive. They seize control; they seize you and if you want to play you have to play along. And as you do they  become more and more interesting, informative, compelling. You don’t – you can’t miss what’s intended. You get it all. I have mixed feelings about that.

Life perhaps is like that and we want as much freedom as we can get. Money is about buying freedom and time, and the OK to do what you want, when you want, as you want, for as long as you want.

Of course, there are always those deflectors and anchors that won’t quite let you do that – like family and friends’ expectations, like commitments we’ve made and are trying to keep, like ill-health or accident or just the gravity slope of what aging does to us all. A great health or insurance plan, pensions and benefits don’t stop the inevitable decline of each one of us, sooner or later.

We are rich in the West. We do have the time and money and goods that makes us the envy of the world, and why we are resented and hated too, by many, elsewhere.

I want the freedom without the discipline. I want the product without the price – the solicitations and choices without the sacrifices. I want more of what I already have and I have the resources still to go after it.

Again the article references – “What all these games have in common is their urgency: they grab the player by the throat and tell them how to move. Whether fast or slow, many of 2016’s best games insist on a tempo, and punish deviation. All games teach a player how to play them, but these were stubborn masters that resisted attempts to change the experience. These are not titles that offer the player the freedom to play it your own way. Instead, they invite you to participate in an experience as they have designed it. You can’t choose how to play these games—not if you want to enjoy them, at least. You can only decide to enter or exit. Pay the toll or move on.”

What would possess game-makers to produce games that take control; that take away one’s freedom? Are we longing for that in some ways? Are we becoming aware that our freedom can just become license towards ultimate boredom, that our having it all at our own proximity, choice and disposal does not ultimately make for the happiness we thought we might attain?

As a person of faith, or at least wanting to be, I realize that my push for freedom can often be a push against and away from God, the Creator who I think placed me in this world, at this time and season, for these years, in these family, friend and vocational circumstances – near to these neighbours . . . with these problems, products, limitations and liabilities – and with enough liberty to explore and to enjoy, but all within the confines and under the direction of One to whom I have committed myself, as to a Lord.

Beginning a new year, or any new day, I must remember that any supposed freedom I have is itself a gift of God’s grace, that there are limitations directions and expectations God has placed upon my life and that my ultimate realization and wholeness as the person God willed to create consists (in terms of my responsibility) in my placing trust and obedience in God, His Word and Will and even in the circumstances He providentially orders and allows to become part of my life experience.

Freedom within discipline and direction ultimately is the only real freedom there is. Says the old hymn – ‘Make me a captive, Lord – and then I shall be free; force me to render up MY sword – and I’ll a conqueror be.’