By Chris WittsWednesday 4 Jan 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
Transcript:
When you’re a child, did you play the game ‘Hide and seek’? Everyone seems to know how it works. I cover my eyes. Count to 10. You run and hide. And then it’s my job to try and find you as I count down from 10 to 1 and you probably squeeze into a tight space, maybe a dark spot to hide waiting to be found. And we think as a child that we’re invisible. No one’s going to see us.
It’s a fun game played by many youngsters coming, ready or not, lots of laughter and giggles. This simple game, hide and seek, is actually an insight into the biggest game of all. And that’s life. How are you coping with life now? That is a huge question. Do you sometimes feel like running away and hiding from people? It was Nicole Kidman who once said, “You can’t find peace by hiding from life.” I don’t know the context of her comments, but it does make sense to me.
It’s like that old saying, you can run, but you can’t hide. After all, when we try to hide from the world trying to be invisible. We’re only really hiding from ourselves. I think there are times when we feel like running away from responsibility or other people or their expectations of us. That can be hard work. We may not talk to others or we look down to avoid eye contact, although our desire to be invisible, maybe strong. Would that really solve anything? Why do we allow ourselves to be caught up like this?
A great Charles Dickens novel was called ‘Great Expectations’, and the main character, Pip, inherits money from a secret benefactor, and he views this fortune as a stepping stone to marrying the girl of his dreams. But his plan somehow goes astray. He realises he has taken for granted so many important relationships and gifts in his life. His expectations had robbed him of fully accepting his reality. Most of us live ordinary lives. We live in a busy age when the demands and expectations of others are great, especially in the workplace. And sometimes you have to do what’s best for you and your life, not what’s best for everyone else, and no one knows you better than you know yourself.
If others form an incorrect opinion about you. Leave it to them to deal with. You don’t need to be concerned or overwhelmed, and rather than avoiding your emotions, talk about them. You may have been raised to limit your feelings because they inconvenienced your parents. But look, you’re an adult now and you can parent yourself. Stop hiding your emotions and embrace them instead. You don’t have to put on a happy face when you’re sad.
Intimacy and trust in relationships rely on emotional honesty. If you have the courage to tell someone how you really feel, your bonds will run deeper, you’ll feel seen and heard and the other person will open up to you, probably in some way the games of hide and seek playing out in adulthood. We may no longer actually play that game, but often we will hide from others. Are friends can be quite confused. They want to know the real you, but we keep them at arm’s length.
God is good, a hiding place in tough times, he recognises and welcomes anyone looking for help, no matter how desperate the trouble. So you see, there’s no need to play any games because we have a living God who loves us in spite of how we feel about ourselves. There is a good, powerful and loving God who wants an intimate relationship with you. You were created by Him and for Him so that you might know Him and serve Him with a purpose. Being honest with God about your feelings, your sin, your struggles, questions. That’s what He wants. He doesn’t want you to keep hiding and feel stuck. The Bible says that God wants your broken and contrite heart. That’s in Psalm 51. He is the only one who can heal you and help you overcome your struggle. With Jesus in your life, you can stop playing games and be your honest self.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, today, I acknowledge that it’s easy to play hide and seek to hide from you and to hide from others. Give me the courage to be myself, to accept myself as I am and to embrace others into my life, amen.