Sometimes the thing we’re seeking isn’t that far away. It’s just a matter of paying attention.
The other night, I was playing hide-and-seek with my kids, and as I scrambled to “hide,” I quickly ducked behind a chair in our dining room. And although it was a lousy hiding spot, it took them longer than usual to find me.
The thing is, they ran through the room a few times, and looked right past me repeatedly. Why did they miss me? Because they were in a hurry to go look for me somewhere else. They were heading to the kitchen, or the family room, or some other place in the house. And because they were so focused on where they were running to, they failed to see me as they passed by.
I wonder how many times we do the same thing. Not in playing hide-and-seek, of course, but in missing possibilities that are staring us in the face. We end up looking in specific places for specific things. And as a result overlook the very answers we need, all because they didn’t match our initial expectations.