Why do you hide?

When we were kids I liked playing games, matter of fact I still do. But my favorite thing was hide-n-seek. I have not played it for a long while but it was so much fun, especially when my oldest sister and her family came. We would wait until it got very dark, in the country there were no street lights to distract from the awesomeness of the game. I would hide the best I could, but they would always find me. But my brother-in-law was an awesome hider. He would always be the last one that was found, that is if we could find him. Even when we called that everyone could come in free, he still stayed in the darkness. We never knew where he was going to hop out at you. When he finally came in, we would ask where he was and for the longest time he said he was hiding in plain sight. Then he would laugh and go into the house. One night when we said he could come in, he started laughing.  There he was sitting on the fence post in plain sight. I don't even know how he got up there. But we were all laughing, when he jumped down into the light. What a wonderful memory, my hide-n-seek hero.

Sometimes as adults we hide and it is not a fun game. We wear a mask with a broad smile and have a laugh on our face. We hide who we really are, how we hurt, and the fear of failure that seems to swallow us up. I know not everyone hides who they really are, but there are hurting people in our world today that are afraid. A great fear is, if someone really knows them, they will not like them any longer. They live in fear of  being rejected. They live in fear of not measuring up. That is an awful place to live. You see the world laughing and seeming to have a good time, so you do the same trying to fit in. Then, when you are alone, the fear creeps into every part of you and it is hard to function. What happens then? You crawl under the covers and hope no one finds out about the darkness that grips you. Do not hide any longer.  Take a chance on your friends. Allow them in to help you. Trust them when they say you are valuable and they care. Then, when the fear starts to overwhelm you, think on those things, even if you have to really force yourself to think positively of yourself. They are telling you the truth. You are valuable. Everyone stumbles and falls sometimes, but the key is not to stay there. Keep getting up. Keep pushing on. Keep smiling even when you don't want to, because eventually it will start to be how you really feel. Stay around positive people that love you. Make God the center of who you are. You will be surprised how it will change your world.

For us that know these people, there is something for us to do also. Love them, even when you don't understand them. We will not always understand how everyone feels, but we can always be there for them. We are called to treat others as God treats us and He loves us with an unconditional love, we are to do the same. We are not to judge, that is God's job. We are to be that loving friend. We never know when we will need them to be that loving friend for us. We all need each other.

Let's not hide so well that people stop looking for us or give up on us. Let's keep jumping into the light where we can be seen. Let's really laugh and have a great time loving each other. May God bless you and fill you with His braveness to jump into the light and be seen.