I have been blessed with the privilege of assisting my daughter, by being her day care provider! One of my Grand daughter’s favorite  games to play is Hide and go Seek, which is typical of most 3 year olds, She is now old enough to hide herself and Grammy has to find her. Now, what makes this game so unique of an experience at least for Grammy, is that; my Grand
 daughter needs my help to get into the Closet in which she has chosen to hide, so she asks me “Grammy you want to play Hide and seek”? “Open the door for me” and as I do, she commands me “ go and count and find me” all the while I know exactly where she is. Off I go and count to 10 or more and I always say, “ Here I come ready or not”!
As I come around the corner I say something like “Where are you, where could you be, you were here just a minute ago”? And  invariably the closet door swings wide open and she jumps out, yelling in her  little -three -year old giggling voice, “ Here I am”! or “Surprise”! Her eyes
 glisten with joy, her body barely contains her excitement as she queries “You wanna go again”? And of course we play until she’s done playing! 
        Playing Hide and go seek with her reminds me of what I call the first game of Hide and seek, which wasn’t really a game, it occurred in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve hid themselves from God, (after eating of the forbidden fruit and realizing their nakedness), when God came to spend time with them, he  already knew what they had done and where they  hid. The problem was, their actions damaged their perspective of  God and his love for them as well  their relationship with each other and so being afraid  and ashamed of themselves, they hid. Adam and Eve didn’t jump out and shout “Surprise” or “It’s us"! when they heard God's voice call them  (If God were human that could have been quite the surprise) 
    Most of us have hidden from God or our friends and family out of fear at least once in our lives. This type of response, either, shows an already dysfunctional relationship and or continues to damage the relationship we desire to have. What’s so awesome about this story is that God didn’t walk away from Adam and Eve; there were consequences to their choices but God stayed through it all. I’d like to be more like God in those circumstances when my friends
 hide on me, to be able to seek them out and be willing to restore our relationship. How about you?