We shouldn’t have been playing hide and seek.
It was my grandpa’s funeral, after all.
But we were kids, and it was raining outside.
As I ran up the red carpeted steps to the choir loft,
a picture stopped me in my tracks.
It was a print of a long-haired man in a robe and sandals.
He had a child balanced on his knee.
His arm was stretched out to other children gathered near him.
Huh. That must be Jesus.
I didn’t think too much more as I heard my cousin shouting:
Ready or Not! Here I come!
But the image came back in my mind again, some 20 years later.
I read in Mark – two chapters in a row – where Jesus interacts with children.
In both instances, He takes them in His arms.
The picture from the church came back to me.
The child perched on His knee.
I realize what the artist was trying to convey:
A tender closeness between the Savior and the children.
But as I read how He took them in His arms,
The picture seemed inadequate.
The child shouldn’t be balancing on His knee.
He should be wrapped in the Savior’s embrace.
No fear of falling.
No fear of being displaced by someone else.
Wrapped tightly and securely by the arms of Love.
Even though I’ve outgrown games of hide-and-seek at funerals,
I haven’t outgrown that need to be held.
I never will outgrow it.
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27
When the world is so volatile and spinning out of control,
I know that the unchanging, eternal God is my refuge,
And He’s holding me in His arms.
I won’t fall.
I won’t be replaced.
I am securely held by my Loving Savior.
Are you hanging out on His knee – keeping yourself at arms length?
Or have you burrowed close to His chest, like a child seeking comfort?
Don’t squirm away and try to face the cold world on your own.
Fall into His embrace.
He will hold you, and you will be safe in Him.