Hide and Seek

"One day Rabbi Barukh's grandson Yehiel was playing hide and seek with another boy. He hid himself well and waited for his playmate to find him. After twenty minutes, he peeked out of his secret hiding place, saw no one, and pulled his head back inside. After waiting a very long time, he came out of his hiding place, but the other boy was nowhere to be seen. Then Yehiel realized that his playmate had not looked for him from the very beginning. Crying, he ran to his grandfather and complained of his faithless friend. Tears brimmed in Rabbi Barukh's eyes as he realized . . . God says the same thing: 'Nobody wants to seek me.'"
~Brother David Steindl-Rast, retold by Brennan Manning

What a wonderful little story, and a beautiful illustration of what we see going on around us in the world today. We live in a largely secular and faithless society. Men place faith in themselves and in worldly things and possessions, rather in the Great Creator Himself. The evidence is all around us, and you don't have to look very far to see the fruits of it . . . an increase in crime of all sorts, children turning away from their parents and indeed against their parents, the increasingly frequent breakdown of home and family due to divorce, increasing disrespect for others, a pervading selfishness, wars and rumours of wars . . . etc. (to name but a few.)



There was a time, and not that very long ago either, that we might have been considered to be a Christian Country, as would have the United States and Canada. Political correctness has overtaken us to the point now though, where we no longer want to be seen as such. We prefer to be known as a melting pot of various cultures and religions. You don't see that in the Islamic nations. They embrace their faith and are proud to be known as such, and, as a result, they are growing from strength to strength.

A lot of people will tell you that they are Christians, but their actions belie their words. They go to church three times in their lives . . . christenings, weddings and funerals, and the doors of most churches rarely see their shadows pass through them at any other time.

A lot of people will tell you . . . "I don't believe in organized religion." What they are really saying is . . . "I don't want to join any church or speak out for my beliefs because, if I did, I might have to recognize the things that I am doing that are wrong or sinful, and then have to make changes in my life right now that I am not ready or willing to make."

A lot of people see faith and religion as crutches or something that will stifle their creativity and joy and freedom . . . little do they know that it has the exact opposite effect, and that it is empowering and life enriching, life changing and not for the worse, but for the better.

A lot of people are afraid to offend others by embracing their faith and living it . . . but in the end, they end up betraying themselves and commit the greatest offence of all . . .



Oh how God's heart must ache when He looks down at us. Like the loving father that He is, He gave us everything we needed to make ourselves happy and to bring joy into our lives and into the lives of others. He gave us the ability to choose for ourselves and the opportunity to reach and to grow beyond that which we know. He has afforded us with the blessings of being able to reach out to others in love and sharing and compassion. He gave us a Saviour to help save us from ourselves . . . and . . . most people don't want to know . . . He is hiding in the cupboard but most of us can't be bothered to seek Him out . . . 'tis nothing new, this was all prophesied a number of years ago . . .

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of Godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." ~2Timothy 3:1-5,7

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." ~Matthew 23: 37

Probably won't make me very popular this morning, but sometimes we have words that lay on our hearts, that just beg to be said and I will always speak from my heart, even if people don't always want to read what I have to say . . .

Oh, I have a delightful cookie to share with you this morning. I love jammy dodgers. I love jam anything. What is it about jam that just makes baked goods taste better??? Yes, I even love peanut butter and jam sandwiches, a fact that Todd cannot understand. He won't even try it . . . just curls up his nose in disgust and makes disparaging comments about how weird our North American tastes are. (This coming from a man who eats marmite and loves it, need I say more! haha) I think you'll love these cookies. Todd does, and so do I!



*Not Quite Jammy Dodgers*
Makes 20-24

These lovely shortbread like biscuits have a wonderful light texture and basically just melt in your mouth. Deliciously crisp with a tasty dab of jam in the middle, these are what the British call moreish. You cannot eat just one. I dare you to try!


90g icing sugar
185g plain flour
60g corn flour (corn starch)
30g ground almonds
250g butter, cut into cubes
½ tsp almond extract
Icing Sugar for dusting
Jam such as strawberry or raspberry

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Sift the icing sugar, flour and corn flour into a large bowl. Add the ground almonds and give it a good stir. Drop in the butter. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips until there are no visible lumps of butter.

Stir in the almond essence. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead it a few times to form a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. (about an inch and a half in diameter) Using a 3 inch smooth edged cutter place the cutter on top of the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drop one of the balls inside and push it down to fill the ring, flattening the top slightly with your fingertips. Repeat with the remaining dough balls, placing them about 2 inches apart. You will not be able to fit all of them on one sheet, so will have to do this in two batches.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until they are light golden in colour. Remove them from the oven and immediately tamp down an indentation in the middle of each biscuit to hold the jam. I use the tip of a wooden spoon and make an indentation about ½ inch in diameter.

Let the biscuits cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

When completely cool, dust the tops with icing sugar and place a dab of jam in the centre indentations. Simply wonderful!