Monopoly, the most played commercial board game in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records), is probably the last game I ever wanted to play.

But late last night at 2:00am in the middle of no-where Wisconsin at the height of intense peer pressure from the only other people awake, I gave in and played.

It was the first time I had really played the game (I used to be an avid Monopoly Junior fan, far from the real deal). Although my heart wasn’t into it, I quickly learned the rules by which these bad boys played: every man for himself, afford no mercy, and the only way to get ahead is by cunning deception. For example, if a player is busy taking a sip of his water and not paying attention and you land on his property, it is perfectly acceptable to not pay and quickly hand the dice over to the next player.

At the beginning of the three or so hour ordeal, I really didn’t care. “The only exciting part of this game is when I pass ‘GO.’” In consequence of my apathy, I played honestly and never once cheated another player of his money. I figured the quicker I lost my small fortune, the sooner I could sleep. About a third of the way through the game, however, I became the first to obtain a monopoly (New York Ave, Tennessee Ave, & St. James Place, if any one’s interested), and from that moment on, the dice always rolled in my favor. In short, the game ended with me having a complete monopoly of the entire board, not to mention several hotels on each property.

Not too shabby for a beginner, eh?

Somewhere in that time frame, someone asked me the key question,”Now do you think it’s exciting?” I nonchalantly responded with a ‘no,’ but when I examined myself at the time, I knew inside I was pretty darn excited. I was doing ridiculously well, and I had enough money to buy me the freedom to do anything and everything I wanted.

And I did. I bought everyone into bankruptcy. And I won.

And I realized how far I had come: from a completely apathetic and innocent “fine-I’ll-play-if-you-insist” kind of person to a greedy, merciless, girl donning a sly grin.

There are two ways to look at this:

#1. Those who deal with honesty and integrity will always win in the end. True, perhaps, but I prefer to focus on

#2. Give a mouse a cookie, and he will ask for a glass of milk (I hope everyone read that book sometime in their childhood).

God, in his time, chooses to bless each of us with something during different parts of our life. For some, it is with intellect, others with money, and still others with athletic talent, leadership skills, creative knack, a great many friends, musical genius, a good sense of humor, etcetera. Whatever it may be and whenever it may be, the majority of us tend to take these blessings and ask for more and when we receive more, ask for even more. And what’s worse, we begin to abuse it, and our hearts seem to completely change. It’s almost sick to think about: we have the ability to turn the most precious and sacred gifts into the most evil. God blesses and turns a humble nobody into a talented worship leader who turns him/herself into a self-praising music player. God blesses and turns a humble nobody into a wealthy money roller who turns him/herself into someone who satisfies the self through material and worldly gain. And although many times we don’t mean to, it just kind of happens.

I didn’t mean to win Monopoly, I didn’t mean to enjoy watching everyone deplete their accounts while I kept gaining, it just kind of happened.

“It just kind of happens,” what a bad, bad excuse.