Hide and Seek

          One of the funnest childhood games we played was Hide and Seek right? You have to seek out the best place to hide you're entire body, without making a sound, and hope that the other person doesn't see or hear you. Your heart beats faster as you listen to the final countdown and sometimes you even second guess yourself that you may have not picked the best spot to hide in. Time is up and they come looking. The game is on!

We could spend hours playing this game and it never seemed to get old. We just continued to find new places to hide and better ways to figure out our opponent whether we were hiding or seeking. It's a game of strategy, and we liked it!    

As we grow older, we still like to play hide and seek, but maybe we play it in a slightly different way now then we did as children. We don't necessarily play it anymore for the giggles and laughs but more as a way to keep ourselves from getting hurt.  We don't want anyone to really know us completely because we don't want to be that vulnerable with others, after all, they'll probably hurt us. We don't want to let people know our deepest desires or dreams because they might find someway to ruin it for us. We don't know how to experience real friendship and trust with anyone because too many "friends" and "family" have let us down. So we hide. We make people "work" at getting to know us. We hide from failures, we hide from guilt, we hide from shame, we hide from our mistakes, we hide from opportunities, and we can even hide from love.   We are good at hiding aren't we? We are really good at this game because everyone else is playing it too. You could say, we are all "Experts" in this field.

But...is that a good thing? Why is it so hard for us to just be real with one another? Why do we live in fear of being who we are with everyone we come in contact with? Sure the normal answers come to mind...people say mean things, nobody will understand, too many people have hurt me so this is easier to just shut everyone out...but is it really?

There's the other route of people saying things like we can't disagree with anyone because that's not loving people. BUT funny thing is...why can't we disagree with each other? Why can't we be real? We don't have to be hateful just because we disagree, but simply saying NOTHING is hiding too! Crazy isn't it? We are all really masters at hiding. We make all sorts of excuses but do we really have the courage it takes to simply, be real?

     I do believe that it is possible. To be real. To not have to hide. I think it will take great courage and strength because we definitely live in a world of hide and seek. But the most awesome thing that I have discovered is that I know a God who DOES NOT play hide and seek with us. He simply says, seek Me with all your heart and you WILL find Me. Awesome! No tricks, no countdown, no time outs...if we look...there He is. That is what I need in this world. I cannot hide from Him and I will always find Him and that is exactly what I want.  A God who can be found whenever I look. A God who does not hide from Me. And frankly a God who never has to try to seek me out because He always knows right where I am.

     I believe that God does not have a problem with the childhood game of hide and seek, but I know First we must find Him, and then let others find us. Let's stop hiding shall we?

He does not want us living in that game. He wants us to be real with those we come in contact with. He wants us to stop hiding and closing ourselves off from the people around us. It's okay to disagree in life...but it's not okay to hide. If we really want to be a light in this dark world...

                                    So come out, come out...wherever you are! ;)