The Poker Hand

The Poker Hand 2/24/06

One afternoon after several months together, my girl and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing poker. We had played several hands, and the pot became the biggest one so far. We’d gone back and forth raising each other for several rounds, so the reward was piling up. The next play was mine, she‘d just raised me back a very sizable sum. It was exactly the amount I had left, knowing that if I called her and lost it would clean me out. I wasn’t sure if she was bluffing or if she thought she had the superior hand. I decided that if I folded now it would be conceding defeat. Yes, I would have something left for another round or two, but with her aggressive style of play I couldn’t see myself overcoming her pile of chips, unless I got all the right cards. It was all or nothing. I was between the proverbial rock and hard place
So I’m looking at her trying to see any signs that might show me whether or not she’s bluffing. I study the expression on her face and the look in her eyes, searching for some kind of emotion that will give me a clue to what she’s thinking, but her face is stern and unyielding. I notice her posture is one that tells me she’s confident and controlling of all her emotions, down to the way she holds her cards with both hands firmly, keeping them out of my sight.
I’m holding a hand consisting of two pairs, ten’s over three’s. Not a real strong hand, but it was better than I’d had in a while, and she was the only one I was facing in this game. I glance at my cards again that are lying face down on the table, lifting up one corner to keep them hidden from her view. I look back up to see if there are any new signs that she might be showing since I checked last time. There was still no change in her expression or body language to give me any clues to what she was thinking. I asked myself if I was prepared to lose this pot based upon her stern countenance, which could be a bluff, or do I stick with my hand and maybe lose everything I had. She’s always had a very good poker face. I had so much invested at this point it was hard to think about giving it up and conceding the victory to her, because I could lose everything in this game. It was for all the marbles.
I finally decided that if I ventured nothing, I would gain nothing. So I pushed the rest of my chips into the pile and reached down to flip my cards over. As I did this I glanced back up to catch her expression. It was one of confusion and disbelief, obviously she thought that I would fold and give up, taking what few chips I had left into the next round. I turned my cards over throwing them into the pile of chips in the center of the table. After seeing my cards, there was nothing but silence from her, then reluctantly she started to show her cards, knowing that she had lost the hand. Right before she could show her cards, I grabbed her hand and stopped her. She looked in my eye’s and said, “what are you doing”? I said, “would you like to play by a new set of rules”? She said, “starting right now”? I said, “yes this is the best time to start, before there is only one winner that walks away with all the chips, we can stop right now and just divide the pot between us, then we both win”. As she looked at me her expression changed from confusion and disbelief to a warm gentle smile that melted my heart. I said, as I took her hand, “would you like to take a walk and put our winnings together, leaving everything out on the table”? A tear rolled down her cheek as she clutched my hand real tight and gave me a tender kiss. Her eyes were glowing now as she looked at me and said “I would love to walk with you, and it doesn’t even matter where we go, because I know it will be beautiful”. We hugged each other tighter than ever as we walked to the front door feeling something we had never felt before. As we walked down the street, Irene pulled up in the driveway and saw us hand in hand strolling into a fading sunset full of glorious colors streaking across the sky. She wondered to herself what it would be like to have someone to walk with, and share the glory of God’s love and creation. She struggled with feelings that tugged at her heartstrings, from time to time. A warmth came over her as she watched them stroll down the street together. Then the feeling disappeared with the ring of her phone. It was a call coming in from another client asking her about their appointment for dinner that night. After she confirmed their meeting she grabbed her purse and all the paperwork from the days business. She had to finish up everything that was pressing for the next day, somehow that night. Looked like another long one, with not much sleep tonight, again. She thought to herself that someday she would be able to enjoy her life and she would have someone to walk with into the sunset, but it would have to wait because her work called, and work was her priority at this time in her life. There would be plenty of time for that later, right now duty called, duty called, duty called. As she closed the front door going into the house, Jerry and Susie turned around and prayed that the Lord would send someone into her life someday to share everything that she’s been keeping inside, and give her the joy that only He can bring. Just as they turned back around to continue their walk, a flock of white doves fluttered past them so close that they felt the gentleness of the breeze across their faces. They watched them fly into the sunset and disappear over the horizon. Then looked at each other and just smiled, and continued walking down the path the white doves laid out before them.

Jerry Hollis © 2006 all rights reserved