TODAY THE WORDS are THE SHELL GAME. How many of my readers have played the shell game before? The definition for the shell game or thimblerig is: a game involving sleight of hand, in which three inverted cups or nutshells are moved about, and contestants must spot which is the one with a pea or other object underneath (source: Google). So here we go, watching the shell or cup which we saw the object placed underneath and we watch as they are moved again and again. Then we choose the one we think it is under and whoopee…it is not under there. What happened? We watched carefully, we kept our eye on the “ball” or did we? How easy is it to play tricks on our own eyes? Magicians have made fortunes “playing tricks on our eyes” or convincing us we actually saw what they want us to see. The tricks of the trade is to deceive, swindle, or sway logic for a illogical impression. How does the shell game play into real life as we know the shell game is only a game?
In our lives, we are going to be exposed to “shell gamers” who seem to be regular or normal people and they usually have good personalities, easy to get along with, and they build up our “initial” trust. We want to believe them and usually the first signs of the “game is afoot” are not visible to our trusting eyes. Little hints of maybe some “sleight of hand” appear, but again, we try to dismiss this sleight as a misunderstanding, an excuse, or an accident. A lot of damage can be done by the shell gamers by their ability to twist and turn the truth while at the same time, getting into positions of responsibility or involved into our personal lives and/or personal finances. The point of this message is to say to everyone who is exposed to “shell gamers”. Give them time to expose their tricks. If a person is genuine, time will be the best gauge; not our first impression or we will take our eyes off the ball and be taken in by their dishonesty. Shell gamers are worse than outright liars as they tell a little truth twisted by deceitful statements which are hard to tell which shell the truth is actually under. Be careful, be watchful, and by all means avoid the wolves which come in sheep’s clothing.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Matthew 7:15 New International Version
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
(c) copyright 2014 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
