Somebody Make A Noise.

hide-and-go-seek. (H.A.G.S.)

a classic game that every child should have the privilege of playing.

when i was sick as a dog and prego with jules, katie and i played H.A.G.S. like this..... i layed on the couch with a trash can by my head... she would go hide while i counted, and when i said, "ready or not......" she would pop out from whatever hiding spot she had found and come get me.  it worked out perfectly.

the game has evolved very nicely.  now we actually all hide while someone comes and finds us.  when ever the seeker has felt they she/he has given it a valiant effort at looking with no success, she/he will say, "somebody make a noise!" in other words, " i am getting impatient,  somebody give me a hint." if the hiders take longer than, oh 3 seconds, the seeker, than irritated, calls out, "if you don't make a noise this minute, i give up, i quit!!"  and so is the cycle of H.A.G.S. in the Littlejohn house.

i am pretty sure this is how we sometimes respond amidst trials, hardship, pain, grief, weighty decisions, and life in general.

"God, this part of my life is REALLY painful, where are you?  Do you hear the breaking hearts on this earth?  Do you see the sobbing humans as we fumble and try to make sense of the cards we have been dealt.  We are tired of looking and not finding.  We are getting impatient, frustrated, and overwhelmed.  We need a hint.  We need a clue.  Could you make some noise, God?"

And then if God doesn't send a rainbow, or doesn't speak to us audibly, or doesn't drastically change our circumstances over night with a miraculous healing, or a blank check, a baby, a job, a house, a clear arrow pointing in the direction we are suppose to go.  We waver, plead, and threaten, "God, if you don't make a noise this minute, I give up, I quit!!"

I am so convicted by my own children's words.

The beauty of it is that HE IS MAKING NOISE.  everyday, and in every corner of this world.  His unfailing, non-compromising, unshakable, unmistakable, solid, unwavering, passionate, intimate, dedicated, overwhelming, LOVE FOR US, is there... calling out for you and for me!  It is in the perfected axial tilt of the earth, in a newborn baby (welcome sweet adelaide!!), in a sunset, in a dinner table with food, in a bank account with just enough, in a daughter's dance, in a mother's voice, in a changing season, in the ebb and flow of the ocean, and in the power of the storm. And most wonderfully, it is penned in a love letter, we call the Bible, that He gave to us that we might HEAR HIM, KNOW HIM, and end our journey of hide-and-go-seek.

Happy Tuesday,
~s

Ephesians 1:17 (New International Version)

¹⁷I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.