I have six chances to find the right answer… only six.

Maybe you are one of the millions playing this daily word game on your phone or computer; if so, you, too, have only six chances to get the correct word for the day.

Wordle, introduced by Josh Wardle in June 2021, as a simple, independent puzzle game between friends, suddenly has three million followers… worldwide.

If you are not familiar with this game, the object is to discover the pre selected five letter  word of the day. One word a day… six chances.

A correct answer in two or three attempts is the goal for the real enthusiast. There are suggestions for the starting word, one with the most vowels, etc. You choose the word you  begin with.  This first word sets the stage for the correct one! Should you have a letter in the right place, it will show green. If you have used a letter that is included in the correct answer, but it is not in the correct place, that letter will appear yellow. Then you begin to think, plan your strategy, check all options to find the answer. Yesterday’s  worlde answer… with five attempts.

Sometimes a word, a strange one for me, is used, and I miss it altogether. For example, “snafu” was an unknown word to me used recently!  Tom and I were in the car together, and he happened to know of snafu;  I was able to make it with his help!

The game Wordle is simply a challenge for me. Or perhaps I wordle for these brief moments to be in charge of something, anything, just to know there is an answer, and I may find the right one!  For a few minutes, I have fun as I search for the right word quickly.

Whether you play this daily game or not, you  live in a Wordle world, desperately seeking answers for life issues, trying to determine the right way through the tangled maze.  We all are searching for the right answers. We have our plan of action, our patterns to see what may work… we try and try.

This puzzle game has become quite competitive in the world. Can you believe intense programs have been developed to discover just who wordles best. Canberra, Australia, is the top global city with the highest average of answers with the fewest tries. Sweden is the top country with the correct answer and lowest number of tries. The state of North Dakota in America is the top U.S. state. Though this game uses English words, the top ten places with the best averages for correct answers in few tries include Israel, Paris, South Africa, Geneva, and Manila, Philippines.  The U.S. ranks 18th!

But finding the answers in life is not a game. Answers to the questions, the contradictions, the puzzles of life are indeed much more challenging. Which direction do I go? I want to understand the whys of broken relationships. Why this disease, why this death? I can’t plan a strategy; I can’t guess at the answers  when I am confused.
My beginning word helped me this day!

Sometimes there is no answer… all is quiet, very quiet. The maze grows more tangled, the puzzle pieces are colored with darker black. We just can’t “find the right  word”.  When we’ve used our six tries, over and over, and over. What then?  There may never be an answer.

We live in a snafu world, and we can wordle to find the daily word. But we need another Word. Another five letter word.

When we don’t know the answers, or even the questions, is it possible to know the Answer!  Is there  one word, a five letter word  for every day. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life… ” (John 14:6).

We can find the Answer!  J e s u s .

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

I/you will never know the answers to some of our questions, the whys of life, but the Answer to life and of life… this Creator of life, the right Word for each day… promises answers for the  existence of life, for my purpose. For your purpose.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalm 119: 103).

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119: 105).

Seeking… finding. The right Word.

(a note… Wordle will end in October 2027 as words  will run out. The Answer is eternal!)