Hide-and-Seek

The internet has created a whole new avenue to fame and it doesn't require talent or skill. All it takes is failing and doing it with cuteness and absolutely no creativity. It all starts with an innocent game of hide-and-seek. That's all it takes for a star to be born.

Take, for example, the underwear-clad toddler standing stalk still in a corner with a lampshade over her head. She was, needless to say, found. 

Or how about the slightly built little girl who managed to squeeze behind the bathroom toilet? Her body fit - barely - but her big brown eyes and curly head of hair sticking out above the tank was a dead give away. The seekers didn't have much of a challenge on their hands.

A sheepskin rug couldn't provide effective covering for a little boy laying perfectly still on the kitchen floor. Nor did the clear-tupperware container atop a tiny little boy keep his parents from quickly discovering their air-deprived son. From little toes sticking out of piles of laundry to motionless kids standing behind lights posts, children's unsuccessful attempts to go undetected are going viral. 

For the adults and talented hiders and seekers the ridiculous hiding places of the newbie players to the game provide a good laugh. "How cute that they thought standing in the fridge with the door only half-shut would keep them from being found!" we think to ourselves. Then we take a picture, laugh and post it to Instagram for the whole world to see. Hiding fail. 

We experienced hide-and-seekers may think we've outgrown the childish ways of shower curtains and sheet cushions to keep us out of plain sight but God has taken our picture and He has proof that we fail at hiding, too. Our best attempts at hiding from God look just as silly as the toddler with a Winnie the Pooh atop his head. God still sees us. 

There is no place to hide that is out of God's sight. Staying out of church won't keep us hidden. Covering up our feelings and our sin won't work, either. I've tried refusing to pray and holding onto my anxieties in the pit of my stomach. God still sees my heart and finds a way to speak into my soul. I can't hide from His will. I can't escape His presence. He is the Master Seeker. 

When God looks down on me it doesn't even take Him a moment to spot my hiding place and the hidden corners of my heart. I am always visible and vulnerable before the Lord. 

With God I'll need to find another kind of fun, one that doesn't include a game of hide-and-seek, because I'll never win. And I won't end up a viral internet sensation either. I've already been found. 

Game over.