Hiding Place

One of the activities we planned for our grandkids on Valentine's evening was building a tent. I sometimes have draped a major part of the living room with blankets to make several routes under cover. This time I used the dining room table and draped it with a king-sized sheet. I threw a couple of forest friends into the cave with them. No adults allowed, unless you are invited in!

Last night the kids came over again. Some circumstances made the choice for the grandkid baths to be the guest bathroom. It may become the bathtub of choice, since it has a curtain in front of it. The master bath, though much bigger, is out in the open. I think some of the same inner pull to be in an enclosed, safe and fun space may be at work in the decision.

I remember some good memories as a child of having a tent, or hiding place made for playing. Sometimes I made them for my younger siblings as well. There is something in us that desires those hiding places. They represent safety, peace, control, ownership of space, and getting away with God.

Jesus would slip away from the crowds to pray. He was going to that 'hiding place' to be with the Father. He needed strength, restoration, ministering. If he desired and needed it, don't we?
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You are my hiding place.
Ps. 32:7

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I realized as I write that getting away with my camera into those hiding places is made of the same stuff. I need to 'get away' by myself into those places of peace and beauty to be with the Father. I harvest peace, gratitude, beauty, strength, understanding, and seeds of the fruits of the spirit to take back out to the world of people and relationships.

Sometimes that hiding place is an altar space in my bedroom, or closet, to just hide myself away and melt into the love of my Heavenly Father; submitting myself to the silence and the Potter. We can, anywhere, go to that hiding place. It provides the peace that passes all understanding; the strength we can access in the midst of any circumstance.