“Ready or not, here I come.”
The count to thirty is over.
The scrambling of little feet down the halls of Papa and Gaga’s house has stilled.
The laughs of sweet children who hurry for a new place to hide have quieted.
In a two bedroom house we grandparents are amazed at the new creative places these cousins discover from one game of hide and seek to the other;
Among the pots and pans inside the kitchen cabinets;
Inside the bathroom shower;
Under the piled clothes of the laundry basket;
Behind the pillows propped on our bed;
In every conceivable place in the one closet of two allowed;
Behind the garbage can beneath the sink;
Behind the doors and living room couch;
Under the kitchen table;
We even caught someone sneaking in the dryer once but stopped that in a hurry.
Oh, the creative play when children find simple pleasures in hiding.
Each taking turns camouflaging themselves in the same places their cousins found cover during the last game, but hide nevertheless.
Whoever is found first and after the whereabouts of every hidden child has been revealed, will start counting, initiating the next round of hide and seek.
A game that goes on for hours;
Child’s play that turns upside down the closets, cabinets and every imaginable place our grandchildren take cover from.
But memories Papa and Gaga wouldn’t stop for a second, knowing one day soon these little feet will stop scrambling down the halls to hide, whose shoe size sadly to us will outgrow this simple game of hide and seek.
As precious children in God’s eyes,
We never outgrow this relationship of hide and seek with Him.
Though God is never hidden from us,
He loves when we seek Him;
He loves to be found.
I love those who love me,
And those who seek me, find me.
Proverbs 8:17 NIV
God loves when we seek Him to do the right thing.
I seek you with all my heart,
Do not let me stray from your commands.
Psalm 119:10 NIV
God delights when His children take cover
And hide in Him from their enemies.
Rescue me from my enemies,
Lord, for I hide myself in you.
Psalm 143:9 NIV
There are those times though we children
Don’t seek God to do the right thing and the game of
Hide and seek of the heart
Begins when we hear God calling for us
From our hiding place as He did with Adam and Eve,
“Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9 NIV
“Knowing all too well God is never blind to our whereabouts.”
“Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?”
Declares the Lord….
Jeremiah 23:24 NIV
Yet, it is in His asking,
“Where are you?”
God questions if we are aware
Of the hiding place our choices
Have caused us to take cover from.
There are no secrets from God.
This game of hide and seek of the heart
Is meant for our seeking, our finding;
Our hiding in Him; not hiding from Him.
In spite of our choices,
Regardless of our whereabouts,
No matter how deep the well we have dug for ourselves,
There is great hope and joy from God
for His children to come out of hiding because,
Nothing,
I mean nothing,
Can ever separate us from the love of God.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
Neither angels nor demons,
Neither the present nor the future,
Nor any powers,
Neither height nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 37:39 NIV