Beating the claw machine

My son spotted the claw machine from a distance away, and I had a feeling he would want to give it a try.

It was a hot summer afternoon, and we were hanging out with some of my nieces and nephews. The cousins have been playing “Among Us,” a video game you play in groups. I’ve never played it myself, but when the cousins are playing, the room gets very quiet—and then erupts in raucous excitement as the game comes to a climax.

This claw machine was holding “Among Us” stuffed animals. My son turned to his father to ask for a dollar, and the next thing I knew, the game was underway.

I knew he wouldn’t win.

Of course, he wouldn’t win.

Claw machines are really hard to beat, I have told my children over and over.

But then, before my eyes, the claw lifted a gray “Among Us” figure out of the bin and dropped it precisely into the chute. My son reached way in to pull the plush figure out and emerged with a giant smile.

As a parent, I don’t mind when we lose at these games that are designed to beat us every time. It seems like a great lesson to realize that some games are rigged for you to lose.

But you have to be delighted when your child is standing triumphantly holding his prize—even if you’ve told him many times that it’s basically impossible to win.

We were ecstatic.

On his first try, with his first dollar, our son beat the system. And I love that he was not at all surprised. I might believe I am an optimist, but he shows me again and again that his optimism runs much deeper than mine.

“What if you don’t win?” I might ask, and he would respond, “And what if I do?”

And he did.

If only we could approach the world more often that way, trusting that life will be OK, believing that the outcome might be more wonderful than you expect. Sometimes you might beat the claw machine, and sometimes you’ll put your money in and walk away empty-handed.

You can still show up, turn your day over to God, and believe that you will be all right either way—because you will have His presence and love.

“Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him,” said St. Jane Frances de Chantal, whose feast day is Aug. 12. “That is all the doing you have to worry about.”

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll come through the day with a smile as big as a child’s when he wins a prize from a claw machine.

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