Simply Thoughts: Angry Birds: The Power of Possibility

Angry Birds: The Power of Possibility

Angry Birds: The Power of Possibility

Okay, before you tune out, I promise you this is going somewhere. Have you ever played the game Angry Birds? It is this great little game designed for the iPod Touch, iPhone platform. It is amazing! It is time-wastingly (made up word) addictive! It is challenging!

Upon first playing the game, the concept seems simple enough. Take a bird, sling shot that bird onto the makeshift home that the pigs have built, try to kill all the pigs. As you advance in stages you unlock more and more different kinds of birds. You’ve got exploding birds, boomerang birds, rocket-speed birds, etc...

If you go straight through and simply seek to beat all the levels, then with time you will most definitely be able to do that. You will beat all the levels (about 160 of them literally), you will beat the game, you will see the ending credits. But....but......there is more to it than that.

See this screen:

Notice how each stage on this screen is represented by a number of stars. Some have 1, some have 2, some have 3. The stars represent the degree to which I beat that stage. If the stage has only 1 star then that means I just barely made it. I killed all the pigs, but I had to use all the birds to do it, and Ieft a lot of their structure still standing when I did it. I completed the task but at the lowest possible level. 2 stars means I completed the task, and maybe I did it without needing to use all the birds, but still left something behind that needed to be destroyed. If I got 3 stars on a stage then that means I beat the stage in the highest possible way. I killed every pig, I totally destroyed their home, I didn’t use all my birds to do it, I got within the range of the highest possible score I could achieve.

Now that I have beaten the game I am desperately trying to beat every stage at a 3-star level. Without exposing myself too much, let’s just say that a great deal of time is given over to trying to accomplish this. As I play, sometimes I will beat a level, I will not use all my birds, it will seem that I have destroyed everything but ultimately the game still ranks me with just 2 stars. What gives!?!? In my mind, I cannot possibly see how I could have demolished that stage any more that I already did. With my eyes, I could not possibly see, in any way, how there is anything more I can do in order to gain a higher score and the coveted 3 stars. It seems impossible!

But I know, just because of the history of game, just because I can see other stages where 3 stars was accomplished when I thought that it could not be, that it is in fact possible. It is the power of this possibility that keeps me coming back. Because I know that it is POSSIBLE I keep trying. Even when I fail, time and time and time again, I keep trying because there is a track record of higher scores than mine that are telling me “you can do better”, “you can score higher”, “you can be victorious on another level”.

The POWER OF POSSIBILITY is vast, grand, amazing, overwhelmingly effective.

God began speaking within the foolishness of mobile gaming.

Because I know it is possible - it keeps me going. The moment I don’t know or believe something is possible, my hope, my drive, my desire to keep going dies. Because I know it is possible - I have no problem putting in the time. Because I know it is possible - I am optimistic about giving it another try...even if I fail.

Possibility possesses a crazy, crazy, mysterious power.

What have you come to believe is no longer possible? How has this effected your life?

This power applies to little things:

Once I realized that solving this puzzle was possible, not just for the genius or for the math wizard, but for anyone, I was compelled to learn how to do it...and I did.

This power applies to major things:

My own testimony is one that speaks of being freed from the results of child hood abuse. Free from sexual addictions, from gender identity issues, from comparing myself to other people. Sometimes I still struggle. Sometimes I still fail...miserably. But I will never give up, I will never faint, because I know that success, victory is possible. The power of possibility compels me to press on. This is called hope. It’s an amazing little thing that produces massive results.

What are your mountains? Has God shown that He has the ability to overcome that mountain in your life or in the life of someone you know? If so, now you know it is possible. Allow the power of that possibility to push you forward, just one more time....

Read About It:

 Philippians 4:13

Mark 9:23  

1Corinthians 10:13

2 Timothy 1:7

Posted by M.Celita Lewis at 8/21/2010 12:38 PM