How could playing chess help cultivate thinking thanks?
A lot actually. Chess is a thinking game. You have to try to protect your king against assaults and instead seek to pin down the opposing king. Most inexperienced players only look to respond after each move (I may or may not fall into this category), but experienced players realize that victory comes from a planned approach, thinking many moves in advance.
History of Chess
Chess started in India back in the 1500’s. It spread to Persia and later on with the Moors into Spain and southern Europe. In the mid-1800’s chess tournaments began. In 1886, the first World Chess Championship was held. Online chess games became popular in the 1990’s. 
A 2012 survey found that chess players now make up one of the largest communities in the world: 605 million adults play chess regularly. Chess is played at least once a year by 12% of British people, 15% of Americans, 23% of Germans, 43% of Russians, and 70% of Indian people. Magnus Carlsen (at right) is the reigning world chess champion presently, and I might add that he is a Norwegian.
How do you play chess with ungratefulness?
Playing chess defensively is planning to lose; you must play offensively. You must evaluate threats, look for clever ways to dodge those threats, and keep on the offensive. “King Self” is the enemy when it comes to cultivating gratitude. The Self is self-ruling, self-serving, self-exalting, and wants to totally rule our bodies, our minds, our circumstances, and other people around us for its own benefit.
Our selfish desires are powerful and demanding, wanting heaven and utopia for ourselves right now. The standard is absolute perfection – “I want a perfect day, a perfect job, perfect children, a perfect car, a perfect phone, a perfect spouse,” and so on. King Self does not want to look for things to think thanks about. It spots the imperfections and short-comings right away and responds with grumpy murmuring, complaining, anger, arguments, and even despair. We have to change the way we think in order to defeat King Self.
Let’s imagine that the opposing chess pieces represent key enemies of thankfulness: doubt, laziness, lust, envy, anxiety, and selfishness. We move our pawn to block an obvious fallacy – this isn’t heaven, there is no perfection in this life, and things could be much worse. We move our rook into position by meditating on the fact that our God is a strong tower – the sovereign, wise, trustworthy, and good controller of all things. We slide up the bishop of contentment to threaten the queen of jealousy and envy. The knight jumps into position by choosing to think thanks even when we don’t feel like it. The queen of power and peace moves across the entire board to take down anxiety. Finally, the egocentric King Self is held in checkmate.
This chess battle is between your ears. The battle is won in your thoughts.
In Europe and in South Africa we often saw large chess sets in parks. It is cool to try to play one of those games. It may be a little difficult to get a good perspective because it is so large, nevertheless, it is inspiring.
As a young girl I learned to play chess. My Swedish uncle Arne Håkansson was a very good chess player. My older brother, Jan, is still an excellent chess player and I feel I have really accomplished something if I can beat him. I have played chess online with both my sons-in-law … and right now Justin has me in a precarious situation. Online playing has great flexibility.
“Gratitude is a decision of the will, and if a decision of the will, the choice resides squarely with us. Deciding to be thankful is no easy task. It takes work.” –Chuck Swindoll
I challenge you to a game of th(i)nkful chess. Plan out your moves in order to win and checkmate the king of Self. It is sweet to win that game, not only for your personal benefit, but most of all, to obey our Maker who said it is His will for us to give thanks in all circumstances (I Thess. 5:18).
Queen of Katwe (2016) is a movie about a true story of a young African girl who learned to play chess at a mission outreach and became an international chess champion.
Here’s a link to basic skills in playing chess How to Win a Chess Game
There are ways to build thought patterns within our minds to always be on the lookout for what we can think thanks about in every situation – I’ll call them “carving tools.” Carving a groove – creating a mental preoccupation with thankfulness – is a safeguard that can keep our hearts and souls from destruction. There are times when it is easy to identify what to be thankful for, and there are times when being thankful is the last thing you want to be. A cool side benefit of this groove is that as you carve out the brain pattern, it becomes easier and easier to “get in the groove” – to spontaneously recognize the things to be thankful for.
se the tool of choosing to think thanks and then express that thanks orally or in a written form. I put on the “glasses of gratitude” and look at everything around me and in me through those lenses. God has promised that He is sovereign and is going to give me all I need to do His will if I will appropriate that grace (I Cor.10:13).
Eternity Glasses
How are you doing at that? Does it come out of you non-stop throughout your day? Start with just being thankful that you could take that last breath. You ate today. You are wearing clothes. You can see with your eyes to read these words. You have access to the internet and this blog and whatever device you are using. You have just been able to read truths that will never lose their potency. One of those truths being that godliness with contentment is great gain.
Choosing to Forgive
Life (and the sovereign God behind it) will bring opportunities for us to choose to overcome evil with good, darkness with light. Romans 12:17-21 talks about what to do when we are served evil. Verse 21 says to not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good.
The Lord IS our Rock, and He wants us to meditate and give thanks for that.
By the way, I love trees. I also love VW bugs; it was the first car I ever owned. As I cruise down the road of life, may I choose to be th(i)nkful about all the carbon that comes my way today. It makes the journey so much more enjoyable.
This is a picture of our son, Nicolas, and his beautiful Julia. They gave me a special present this year for my birthday – a Daily Gratitude Journal! In this journal there are only blank pages divided by a line in the middle and a space on which to put the date. You could use really any kind of notebook to do the same thing. The idea behind it is to get into a pattern of writing down your th(i)nkful list. At the end of the day you take a moment to reflect on what you were thankful for that day.
I started doing that after getting this book from Nick and Julia. Some entries are not so full. Some entries can barely fit all that I want to record. But the beautiful thing that I find happening to me is that, as I go through my days, I make mental notes of the things I need to remember to record that evening. This goes for easy days, as well has hard days.
learned a gem that afternoon. Our group sang songs for them and in return they wanted to sing for us. They did a much better job. 🙂 One of the songs they sang was “Hold on to Jesus, Hold on, Hold on, Hold on.” I thought to myself that wow, that doctrine was so shallow. They should have been taught deeper truths. However, the gem I discovered was that the most important thing to do when going through horrendous difficulties and challenges is to “Hold on to Jesus.”
th(i)nkful 