Hide and seek is a game with universal appeal. I can remember John playing it with our four oldest kids in California, wearing his blue bathrobe. There are only so many nooks that a full grown man can squeeze into, so his choices were limited. Often it was the pantry, standing next to the broom. But that predictability did not diminish the appeal of playing it. The kids begged over and over for him to hide, and their enthusiasm flowed into the third time. And the fourth. 

 

For eight years the twins and John and I put on a marionette show about the Easter story. There was a shadow of the cross to depict the crucifixion. We wanted it to be subtle, rather than scary, as the audience was of a tender age. When Ben was younger we came to see the play while other hands held the strings. In the room packed with rapt children his clear question hung in the air just as the guard puppets appeared to capture the Jesus puppet. 

 

"Are they the good guys or the bad guys?"

 

I whispered an answer, which satisfied him. He seemed concerned when the Man in white went away. 

 

A short time later, two lady puppets wept by a small tomb, and Jesus appeared again to speak to them. 

 

"He came back!" Benjamin announced. He was clearly relieved. 

 

My uncle once told me that the reason hide and seek is such a ubiquitous game around the world, is because we all want to believe in life after death. Being separated from people we love is the ultimate form of excruciating pain. 

 

We are invited to come back to love, even after a breach, or a betrayal. 

 

That is in itself, a miracle.