What is the average amount of time it takes to solve a puzzle? I can鈥檛 locate any hard data on this question, but a guy who wrote a computer simulation to figure out the best two starting words for Wordle鈥攁nd who claims he has played Wordle 鈥渁 million times鈥濃攅stimates that it takes about for the average person to play one game of Wordle.

I like Wordle. It鈥檚 fun. The game is challenging enough to get a thinking person to think, but not so challenging that someone playing it for fun normally gets overly frustrated. I try to solve a Wordle puzzle about once a week.

But let me propose a thought experiment. I鈥檒l write it in the form of a question. Furthermore, I鈥檒l write the question as gently as I can. Here鈥檚 the question:

Don鈥檛 you think that there might be at least the tiniest bit of a problem spending 15 minutes a day solving a Wordle puzzle if you aren鈥檛 spending 15 minutes a day reading God鈥檚 Word?

Granted, you may have adequate time in your day to do both. I know people who do. Wonderful! Then spend 15 minutes solving your Wordle puzzle after you have spent 15 minutes reading and meditating on God鈥檚 Word. (I鈥檓 suggesting 鈥渁fter鈥 in order to give God鈥檚 Word priority). But, let鈥檚 be honest, since Wordle offers none of the long-term spiritual benefits of reading the Word, I find myself pondering whether it might make sense to spend twice the amount of time each day reading the Word as you do solving a Wordle puzzle. If you agree with that sentiment, however, this would entail blocking off 45 minutes a day to accomplish both鈥30 minutes of Bible reading and 15 minutes trying to decipher the word of the day in your Wordle app.

Some people have enough time to do what I鈥檓 suggesting. That鈥檚 great. That is, if you want to play Wordle each day鈥攚hich on its own merits is a fine and useful mind game鈥ar better than scrolling through social media or binge-watching television鈥擨 recommend that you block off at least 45 minutes a day to do it. Prioritize half an hour a day for concentrated time in the Bible followed by 15 minutes sometime later in the day for Wordle. Such a decision will grant greater proportional weight to God鈥檚 Word than to a random five-letter word.

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