There are so many games we played growing up: Red Rover, Tag, Hopscotch, Marbles and Hide and Seek are just a few. I don’t know if you want to call monkey bars or merry-go-round a game, but we sure made it one, just like King of the Hill.
If we were on top of the monkey bars, and anyone challenged us, they would be disembarked.
When we positioned ourselves in the middle of the merry- go-round, and anyone who was hanging on for dear life met their end by being flung off as we retained our rightful place in the center of the death machine. Our courage was tested when we dared to stand or sit on the metal bars as the pusher would make the machine spin so fast that we felt like flyingÂ…and some did.
We kids were tough! Let’s see if this generation can survive the metal behemoths, gravel, and concrete we called our playgrounds. Perhaps the most popular piece of playground equipment that could defy gravity is the swing. Not just any swing but the swing with at least 10 feet of chain. I swung high to see if I could wrap around the top pole, and then just as I went even with that top pole, I would jettison out of the seat and go flying through the air like a bird without wings.
If I were feeling a little devilish, I would invite someone to get on the see-saw. When he is up in the air and I am down on the ground, I would roll off and the seat would disappear under my victim. This little trick helped others face their fears.
I dared the sun gods when I slid down the metal slides in my shorts. If that weren’t torture enough, I would go climb on the 15-foot tall metal military-grade monkey bars that had been baking in the afternoon sun. That tested our resolve.
Hide and Seek was a hoot as well. I often had everyone hide in their favorite spots where they knew I couldn't find them. I would yell, “Ready or not. Here I come!" I would then find a good Marble game. That worked on their patience.
I bet everyone who reads this will have played hide and seek as a child and also played it as an adult. We hide things we want no one else to find or know.
We tend to hide behind a facade and pretend to be someone we are not.
We hide behind feelings and emotions and dare anyone to seek out how we really feel and why.
We play Hide and Seek with God. Sometimes we hide from Him when we know we are doing something wrong.
Other times, we seek Him because we know that we have strayed too far away. That is one game that He will win at all the time.
Psalm 139:11-12 - “I could as the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, but even the darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you.”
We can’t hide from Him who seeks us and He surely will not hide from us when we seek Him.
Now, jettisoning you off that merry-go-round of life is up for grabs.
