2 Samuel 22:3 –He is my God, the Rock I run to for protection. He is my shield; by his power I am saved. He is my hiding place, my place of safety, high in the hills. He is my savior, the one who rescues me from the cruel enemy.

Ever see something happening and wonder if what you see is REALLY happening?

This happened to me on Easter Sunday.

Hubby Rick and I knew we would be leaving early Sunday morning as I was playing at a sunrise service. The forecast indicated a beautiful Easter day. On Saturday night, I asked Hubby Rick to hide the 150 eggs I had ready for an Easter egg hunt the next day. There was no chance of rain, it was warm enough there would be little dew. Hiding the eggs on Saturday night would mean one less thing to do Sunday morning.

On Sunday we got home from church and I was in the kitchen preparing brunch/lunch. I looked out the window and saw the funniest thing. A squirrel was running through our backyard carrying a blue Easter egg! I looked again. Was this really happening? Yep, it was.

Quickly, I ran downstairs and reported our inquisitive squirrel to Rick. He didn’t think there was anything he could do to stop the squirrel. I wasn’t nearly as interested in him fixing the problem as I was in validating what I saw!

Sure enough, the squirrel was in the backyard, now weaving his way through the trees, still carrying the blue egg.

After our guests began to arrive, someone noticed the squirrel again. This time, he was carrying a green egg! He was headed towards the woods. The kids decided that he was “squirreling” away the eggs; keeping them for another day.

The egg-carrying squirrel intrigued the kids so much that they went outside. As they walked through the yard, they found many eggs that the squirrel had broken open. In fact, he’d opened the wrappers for the candy, ate the candy and left the eggs and wrappers behind!

Everyone got a big laugh out of our inquisitive squirrel in the backyard.

The day after Easter was another beautiful day. Hubby Rick raked the yard. He found a few eggs the kids missed. And yes, some of them had cracks from the squirrel’s teeth and the candy missing.

It is impossible to figure out why the squirrel took the eggs towards the woods and hid them. But why wouldn’t he? If he had figured out there was something sweet to eat inside the egg, why wouldn’t he want to save a few of those eggs for a later day? And the candy might as well stay inside the egg. It would then be protected from the rain and other inclement weather.

But how different are we really from the squirrel? Don’t we sometimes take things and hide them, hoping no one else will find our little treasures? We may even sneak into the pantry every once in awhile and grab a snack, hoping no one else sees what we are eating?

There are times I have gone to great lengths to make sure something has been put away in a safe place. Please tell me that I am not the only person who later has a hard time remembering exactly where that “safe place” is. I wonder if the squirrel has put his treasure in a place where it will not be lost?

Too often what we forget is that God WANTS to be our safe place. Our hiding place. The soft place we can fall and be protected when other things just do not make sense. So, may we not fail to remember that God LONGS to be our hiding place. God hopes we will “squirrel” away a little time with God every day. God is our rock. Our protection. May we embrace God in a daily way.

A few other little bits of inspiration this week:

An Easter song from the Ukrainian Easter Song. It is a great song and sung by people from Ukraine? Even more special.  

These verses. In the Bible reading plan I am following this year, we read the little book of Ruth this week. It is an absolutely precious story of a daughter-in-law, Ruth, following her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to her hometown of Bethlehem. This may not feel like a big deal to us but Ruth was moving to a foreign country. Where the people spoke a different language, had different customs, ate different food and lived differently. She WILLINGLY did this and promised Naomi to always be with her.

What a wonderful story of love and commitment.

The Book of Ruth is short; just four chapters. I encourage you to read through it and be blessed.  

This book. Yes, I have been sharing about Simple Is Better the last few months. This author has completely shifted her life, priorities, belongings and most everything else. Pick and choose a few nuggets from this book and implement them in your life. You don’t have to embrace everything the author includes but simply think about if there are a few that speak to you.

Hoarding. Hiding. Keeping for ourselves. Too often, we do this. When we embrace a Simple Is Better way of living, we are more gracious in sharing what we no longer need with others who can use these things. We find more time to focus on what is important to us because we spend less time managing our stuff.

Every little step you take – even the tiniest of ones – allows you to let go and find God as your hiding place. Your protection. And this, my friends, really is more important than anything we could hide or hoard.

For the less “squirreling” away and more simplicity, I am grateful.

Blessings –

Dianne

Almighty God – Too often, we are like the squirrel. Keeping something for a rainy day. Or hiding something just for our benefit. May we see that our best hiding place is not with some possession but in You. May I release those things that I hang onto too tightly and find my rest in You alone. Amen.

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