My niece and her pastor husband have purchased a new home near a tranquil river, and in fact, when visiting their new home last Saturday, my initial thoughts were:

• ‘Oh, my, this is SO NICE,’ as I stood looking out the kitchen window toward the fading evening sky.

& then

• ‘How peaceful,’ while walking down toward the riverbank, just across the backyard from the house.

While the other adults were working to get the house ready for move-in day, I enjoyed the distinct pleasure of playing.  My play partners were a rambunctious two-year-old & his helpful older, wiser sister of five years.  The game of the night was none other than “Hide & Go Seek.”  Time after time, we alternated play. Clementine and Baby Jay would hide while I counted to twenty, then I would voice those famous words known to all:  “Ready or not, here I come.”  Such ominous words, truly; nevertheless, I would stomp loudly as I went ‘seeking’ those who were hiding (usually upstairs, at the top of the second-floor landing, under the blanket, on Baby Jay’s make-shift bed).

Then, after many giggles caused by my tickling of them, after they had been ‘found,’ it would be their turn to count to twenty while I hid.

Baby Jay alternated haphazardly, hiding one moment with his older sister and the next with me, and then joining in the ‘seek,’ truly just going however his two-year old body really wanted to go.

Round-after-round, we played while

• painters—painted,
• a carpenter—put down new flooring in the living room closet, &
• an electrician—wired new plugs in the sunroom.

A week later (last night), my play-partner stayed all night with me, and in our conversation as we lay in bed, close to falling asleep, we enjoyed giggles (again), and I discovered:   The Biblical Truth Found in “Hide & Go Seek.”

Our late-night conversation went something like this.

Me:  “Is daddy coming today?”

Clementine:  “No, he’s going to work at the new house.”

Me:  “Oh, is he laying the new flooring in the bedroom closet?”

Clementine:  “No, that’s already done.  He’s putting up the white shelves.”

(I knew she meant the new closet shelving.)

Me:  “It was fun last Saturday playing Hide & Go Seek.”

Clementine:  “Aunt Nancy, that’s a funny word.”

Me:  “What word?  SEEK?”

Clementine:  “Yeah, that’s funny.”

Me:  “Why is it funny?  Do you know what it means?”

Clementine:  “No.”

(So I defined the word SEEK in my best definition that a five-year-old could understand.)

In the darkness, I could feel Clementine thinking, and then she voiced:  “That’s pretty.”

This morning, I find myself reflecting. God will never leave those who earnestly SEEK after Him.’  As I ponder this biblical truth, I whisper in my heart:  ‘Thank You God, for the teaching of the Holy Spirit shared with me by my beautiful five-year-old niece.’

David was led to write to us, these words recorded in God’s Holy Word—“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, . . .” Followed by the reasoning how we can know this is truthfully so—“For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” (The Psalms 9: 10 NASB)

Tenth Avenue North sings the melody “I Have This Hope,” one that reminds us so eloquently how our Father is always with us, never letting us go.

Consumed By Fire sings the melody “First Things First,” one that reminds us Who We Should Seek With All Our Heart.

In the words of sweet Clementine:  “That’s pretty.”

Friend, may we Pray with Faith.  Yes, may we Talk with God, enjoying a continuous conversation with the very one who created us.

May we “Go Seek,” Father God, Continually Remembering—We Will Find Our Father When We Seek Him With All Our Heart!