HIDING PLACES (a stumbler's walk post)

There is no fear in love, 

but perfect love casts out fear.

--1 John 4:18

Fear cannot reside where love is. In the same way that light, by its very presence, drives away darkness, true love chases away fear. 

As children, we played Hide-and-Seek. I remember feeling a strange dread while hiding in corners of dark closets. I could hear the IT coming close and I would try not to breathe. Fear of being exposed was a little too gripping for a simple child's game. If the IT might just pass me by, just this once, I'd bolt from my hiding spot in hopes of reaching Home Base. There at Home Base I could stand and face the IT with no fear - no fear of exposure, no fear of being caught, no fear whatsoever. 

As adults we play Hide-and-Seek. The game is more covert. It is mostly internal. And it is not much of a game. We hide in closet corners of our own construction. And in the darkness, we fear being exposed. 

Ironically, in this version, there is no IT. Maybe better - the hiding itself is the IT. Lastly, lest I stretch the analogy too far, Home Base is not a static destination. Instead, our Home Base is a person. He is a person both to whom we run for refuge, and who seeks us out, even when we hide in shadows. 

His light exposes us. But just as darkness races away when light invades, fear fails when love enters the scene. Fear becomes memory, and at Home Base we find freedom. 

Jesus said, "I came to seek and save that which was lost," (Luke 19:10). That includes us, hiding in the shadows of our closet corners. He seeks us out and he shines darkness-defeating light into our lives. 

Where light is, darkness cannot be.

Where love is, fear cannot be.

Where Jesus is there is light and love. 

God, forgive me of my closet corners. Be my Home Base.

For now...

D