Hide and Seek and the Redeemed

I sat on the playground once with a co-worker of mine while her kids played on the swings. It was the last work day of the school year and we’d just finished cleaning out our classrooms before summer vacation. I watched her son swing back and forth and her daughter dance around in the spray of bubbles I’d blown.

“How did you know you were ready to have kids?” I asked her casually. “Well,” she began, “that’s complicated.” She chuckled, and then over the next half hour proceeded to share with me the story of her salvation and all the twists and turns that led her to the Savior, thus showing her in time that she was ready to have children. 

That conversation has stuck with me. Not because of what she shared about knowing she was ready for kids, but because of the way she took the time to share the story of God’s salvation and faithfulness to her. I didn’t have to dig. I didn’t have to ask for the details of her testimony. The work of the Spirit in her life was a story she was not only willing, but eager to tell. That eagerness to declare the works of God stood out to me.

The psalmist writes in Psalm 40:10, “I have not hidden Your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness from the great congregation.” Too often we keep quiet about the work of the Lord in our lives. We feel shy when it comes to speaking of how He saved us and continues to sanctify us. We act like children playing hide-and-seek, keeping the stories of His steadfast love tucked away in a corner until someone else seeks them out. 

Hide-and-seek is fun to play, but it is not a game for the redeemed. As I prepare my own heart to be gathered with friends and family often this holiday season, I am praying that the Lord would guard me from concealing His steadfast love. May stories of His kindness and goodness pour out of me like they did from my friend on the playground that afternoon. May Psalm 40:10  be true of all of us.