Life as a Chess Piece

Written by Mark Serafino

If you were a chess piece, which piece would you be? A pawn? A Knight? The Queen? If you’ve ever played chess you know that each piece bears it’s own unique power to attack it opponent or defend its King and you are keenly aware that in spite of her unmatched power on the board the highest piece, the Queen can be taken by the lowest, the Pawn in one move when you least expect it to happen.

Why is this? How can this happen? The answer lies in the tactical strategy of the chess player. Without his direction, even the most powerful piece on the board is impotent and left to stand powerless to accomplish anything unless his ‘master’ places his hands on it and ‘moves’ it further in the game.

I would like to suggest that life is very much like a chess game and we are the chess pieces waiting for our Master to move us. What piece are you? Who is your Chess Master? 

In truth, there is only one Chess Master, God our Creator, the Author of life. He controls the ‘chess board’ of life and He moves each piece, each one of us to the very spot (square) He needs us, at the very moment He needs us to be there.

As chess pieces go, are we a good chess piece? Do we wait to be moved, or are we taking the game into our own hands? Is God capable of making a wrong move? How often in life do we try to take matters into our own hands and move from our current square to another, because we are impatient for results, in our family relationships, our daily responsibilities or our vocation? When you think about it, if we were to focus our effort on Earth to being the perfect chess piece we could never be moved in the wrong direction or prematurely eliminated from the ‘game’, because our ‘moves’ will have been directed by God and our suffering while we wait to be moved would be rewarded by Him on Earth and in Heaven.

Painful as it may be, our best and perhaps only option in life is to be His obedient chess piece, waiting for His touch while preparing ourselves spiritually to fulfill the mission He has chosen for us in the next move. The silence and waiting can feel unbearable, and the lack of action makes us feel abandoned and alone. It is in these moments, when we are our most vulnerable that we actually have the most power as a chess piece because it is our love and faith in Him that strengthens us, molding us to be ready for Him to place us in the perfect square and serve Him.

So tomorrow when you wake up, think about being that chess piece. Wait quietly and patiently for Him to touch you, then, move with Him confident that His moves are unmatched and that His love for you is immeasurable. Your faith and obedience are the keys to making your next move one with His.