Every summer, for many years, I have spent a week counseling elementary school girls at a church camp alongside my pal Molly. Each year, the most beautiful game of the entire summer goes into full swing, the most glorious invention ever: Counselor Hide and Seek. A full 15+ minutes of counselors and staff getting to literally run away from their campers and have no responsibility for them whatsoever.

It's pretty spectacular, but I will give you one tip: Do not hide underneath a bridge. There will be hornet nests and it is not pretty.

The one hiding spot that never fails to impress and ensure virtually no incidence of being discovered is on top of a building.

Yes, a roof.

I cannot reveal which roof it is that provides the most spectacular hiding spot,

(Actually I shouldn't even reveal that it is a roof, nor should I provide the accompanying picture...here's to hoping none of the campers get ahold of this...)

But it really exists. I promise.

Hiding is fun, especially when it is from a mob of campers.

On another note, at the tail end of my time living at home, I discovered an amazing song while listening to Pandora. Steffany Gretzinger sung words of truth straight into my ears in a way that seemed as if they were coming straight from the Father. "Out of Hiding" seemed as if it had been written just for me.

Hide and seek, "Out of Hiding." I'm sensing a theme to the list of "Things That Laura Enjoys."

As people (yes, not just me,) we spend a lot of energy deciding whether or not to hide things about us. We think about what encompasses who we are and from there we decide what is safe to put out in the open and what is better off hidden inside of us. Surely people don't want to see our "dirty laundry;" surely they can't handle all of our emotions and struggles. So we go into hiding, at least partially.

You know, for our own safety.

Hiding things, showing only the most acceptable highlights of our life has become a remarkable pastime, especially in the social media age. I think these highlight reels existed before social media (in no way would I blame it all on one thing,) I just think it is more pronounced and obvious now, yes?

But hiding? Hiding is based in fear, is it not? We go into hiding, we hide things from people out of fear of what would happen if they were to be found. We are afraid of how we will be perceived if our hiding is discovered and even more afraid of the perception of what we have been hiding.

We hide things because we don't want them to be discovered,

Or maybe not.

Playing hide and seek as a child tells us all about this. The "hider" hides from the "seeker" in full expectation that they will once again be found. It's really fun to find a good hiding spot, but it is no fun when the seeker gives up because your hiding spot is too good.

In playing hide and seek we actually WANT to be found.

So maybe we hide things in our lives because we so desperately want them to be found and embraced. We want the seeker to find us and all of our insides and hold us closely and remark how glad they are that they have found us. How glad they are to see who we are.

We want to be seen,

Not to hide.

The amazing Glennon Doyle Melton reminds us that in our hiding we may actually be hurting those around us more than helping anybody.

"Friend, we need you. The world has suffered while you've been hiding. You are already forgiven. You are loved. All there is left to do is to step into your life."

Yes.

Come out of hiding.

Come out of hiding for those around you, and come out of hiding for yourself.

(Unless you are hiding from campers, of course.)

You are safe.

You aren't alone.

Thanks be to God.