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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: In and Out (04/30/09)
Peek –A-BOO and HIDE-AND-SEEK

Peek- a-Boo. An old game that has come down through the generations. Babies love it in its simplest form. Pop out from under that soft little blanket and revel in the resulting giggles that shake that round, chubby body as baby is surprised by your sudden, “Boo!”
Toddlers love the game too, maybe in a little bigger world. As they pop out from their hiding spot in the big cardboard box with a shout and you feign surprise as only those who love children can. They too, are reduced to little quivering bundles of giggles.
And older kids love a version of “Peek-a-Boo” in the more sophisticated form known as “Hide and Seek”. Hiding in their perfect, well sought out spot, they fight the desire to peek out and see. They tell themselves to stay hidden, but the truth is, they really want to be seen. The drive to make that dash out into the open and reign supreme shouting, “Home Free! You didn’t catch me!” eventually breaks through to the surface.
“Hmmmm” Some similarities to God and me here. I think I don’t want to be found. I want to stay forever hidden away in my own privet closet. I don’t want to go out. It’s dark out there. I can imagine it to be any way I want it to be in here. I can pretend to be anyone or anything or anyway I want to be. I don’t want to be found. Or do I? Maybe the truth is, I DO want to be found, but I want to control the moment. It is awful to not come out and be seen. Not to be noticed. Not to be desired or sought after. Another thought pops into my head. If I stay in here, how can I be the person I was created to be? How can I feel the exhilaration of shouting, “Home free!” if I stay in hiding?
Ok, I decide. I want to be found, BUT on my terms. I don’t want to be found with all my sin. Its dark and black and sticking out all over me. So I duck back in. Quickly. Only briefly peeking out. On a really good day I might put on my big girl panties and venture a little further away from my “perfect spot”, but I am glancing quickly around, searching, searching for another hole to jump in at the first sign of being seen. And so I do. I hide in a big box this time. But it is certainly not fun or entertaining or satisfying or useful to be unseen, unnoticed, alone. Not for too long. And then the rains come. Sheets of cold, dark droplets. Unending. Relentless. The box is dipping lower and lower. It’s bending now . So soggy it cannot bear its own weight. I know I have to do something. Yet, if I venture out, I have to think of God seeing me with my sin sticking out all over, black, dirty and ugly. I am afraid and ashamed. And I know I cannot make it “home free” on my own. All seems lost. Until I remember…
Jesus has already made me a winner. He has carried me to “home base” and I can shout, “Home free!”. Because when I come out, He continues to provide for me, a place to hide. A place to hide my sin. For that is really all I want to hide. I really want to be free. I can hide in Jesus. I can be IN Him. I can reflect His glory. And when the Father looks at me, I am free, because He sees me all surrounded by the reflection of his son. And then I can come out without fear, without shame. That is my moment . God has given me the right to control this moment. The opportunity to choose not to stay in hiding, but to come out. To be noticed, seen. To be known. To be used, to be blessed. That is my achievement. My free choice.
And in my own child-like way, I can even pretend that the Father startles, lifts His brows , laughs and shouts, “ I found Jody. Wow! You look awesome to Me”. Because He is seeing me all cleaned up and ready to go to town! And I don’t have to imagine that He is pleased, I Know He is. The Bible tells me so.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
05/08/09
Very entertaining stream of consciousness.

I only ask that you put an extra space between paragraphs, for your readers' sake.
Yvonne Blake 
05/08/09
What a good analogy!
It would help the reader to leave an extra space between paragraphs. I had trouble with that at first, too.
I love your thoughts. Keep writing.
Janice Fitzpatrick
05/10/09
Nice job! Other than the little spaces between each paragraph this piece has wonderful correlations in it.I really like your comparisons! Beautifully done!! Keep on writing. I cna see this in a devotional.