Ready or Not, Here I come!

Yesterday afternoon I retrieved Babyboy from his crib after his nap. We hid behind his rocking chair and yelled for Oldest and Middleson to come and find us. That led to Babyboy's official first game of Hide and Seek! Mommy and Babyboy against Oldest and Middleson. That certainly qualified for some great energetic time on the boys turf.

The game was toned down from the usual suspenseful, in-the-dark, intensely difficult-to-find game that the big boys play with Daddy. Oldest and Middleson used sweet voices and hid in more obvious spots with a limb hanging out to clue Babyboy of their whereabouts.

When it was time for Babyboy and I to hide again, I could feel his little heart beating rapidly and a his face anticipating the moment he would be discovered. When his big brothers found us, he screamed in delight.

After several rounds, we decided to let Babyboy stand on his own two feet. When I requested that he hide, he did. As long as he couldn't see us, he reasoned that we couldn't see him. He layed on the floor on his tummy with his face squished into the carpet and waited for us to find him. Oldest, Middleson, and I used our best acting voices to pretend we couldn't find the one we sought. And at last, with much drama, we found our Babyboy!! Everybody clapped and cheered.

He liked hiding. He liked being found.

This morning when I heard Babyboy singing his morning tunes, I opened his bedroom door to find him laying still with a blanket spread over his face. I quickly understood that he wanted to repeat yesterday's adventures.

As I reflected on the joy we all experienced from a simple childhood game, I couldn't get away from the THRILL it must bring Jesus when we seek Him. We are definitely the lost ones. He isn't lost, yet the Bible instructs us to seek him repeatedly.

Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Hebrews 11:6 "....he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
Psalm 105:4 "Look to the Lord and his strength; see his face always."

Miriam-Webster gives the following definition for "seek".
seek verb \ˈsēk\
sought\ˈsȯt\seek·ing

transitive verb
1: to resort to : go to
2a : to go in search of : look for b : to try to discover
3: to ask for : request
4: to try to acquire or gain : aim at
5: to make an attempt : try —used with to and an infinitive
intransitive verb
1: to make a search or inquiry
2a : to be sought b : to be lacking
— seek·er noun

Psalm 10:4 refers to the one who does NOT seek him. "In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

My prayer is that I will seek His face always and train my children to earnestly seek Him. I want to leave room in my thoughts for God and push out the distractions that keep me from seeking Him wholeheartedly.