Seen and Known, Safe and Secure

Don’t you sometimes wish you could be a child again? Life was much easier when someone else was watching over you, keeping you safe. You were seen and secure.

When I was eight years old, my grandparents built a house next door to ours. While the house was under construction, my siblings and I would climb up on my parents’ bed and look out the window to watch the house taking shape. We watched as construction workers pounded pilings into the ground, poured the concrete slab, and erected the frame.

Once the outer walls were completed, I got a bright idea. Wouldn’t it be fun to spend the night in the new, unfinished house? It would be like camping, sort of. Cabin camping. Roughing it, but still protected from the elements.

“You don’t want to sleep there,” my mother said. “The electricity’s not hooked up. It’ll be dark.”

“I’ll bring a flashlight.”

Now, those who know me well know I’m not a camper. In fact, someone once tagged me in a post that read, “If camping means my hotel room faces the woods, then, yeah, I’ll go camping.” But I was young and foolish and had no idea what I was getting into. To my great surprise, my mother said I could go.

So one night after my bath, I collected my pillow, blanket, and flashlight and marched next door in my pajamas.

The house was dark inside. A musty smell of fresh-cut wood greeted me. I looked around for a spot to lay my blanket, but nails and construction debris covered the concrete floor. Roaches and lizards were surely crawling around.

My plan for adventure didn’t seem like such a great idea after all.

“Are you ready to come home?”

My mother was right behind me. She knew I wouldn’t last long in that unfinished house and was waiting to guide me back to the comfort of my own bed.

Recently, when I was reading Psalm 139, I remembered that ill-fated attempt at adventure. Just as my mother knew I’d change my mind about camping, God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Read the rest at: https://theglorioustable.com/2022/04/seen-and-known-safe-and-secure/

My friend Lora shared this song that so beautifully communicates the message of Psalm 139.