Seeking and Being Found

Caitlan Rangel reflects on the rhythms of seeking and being found by God through the lens of the children’s game, Marco Polo.

It is true that God is always with us—Jesus says, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). It is also true that sometimes we do not feel God’s presence with us—we seek after God, wondering where God might be.

How can we understand this rhythm of seeking and finding in our lives?

Though perhaps obvious, it’s still important to name that God is not like a mischievous child playing hide-and-seek—one who tries to find a hiding spot that no one will ever discover.

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If we stay with the image of children’s games, we might imagine God more like a friend with whom we play Marco Polo.

Imagine yourself on an open green field, eyes closed, calling “Marco!” You listen and hear our sweet Savior call, with a smile in his voice, “Polo!” You race closer to where he is. As you play this game, He leads you to places you would not have gone on your own. He leads you through trial times of desert sands. He leads you through waters of grief. He leads you through fields of flowers, times of pure delight.

Sometimes as you play, you call, “Marco!,” and when Jesus replies, you realize He is so close! You embrace with laughter and love, holding Him as long as you can until He runs off to lead you again.

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Here’s the thing about seeking and finding the Lord in our lives—more than our lives being about our plans and our expectations of how Jesus should show up, our lives are an invitation to listen and follow Jesus where He leads.

Like the child playing Marco Polo with her companion, we work to attune our ears and hearts and minds for Jesus’ next call. Jesus does not simply call us once and let us settle in that place. No—Jesus calls us over and over again, every day of our lives.

When we don’t know the way, we can ask for Jesus’ grace to illuminate the next step. Not the grace to illuminate what we should do one week or one month or one year from now. Simply what to do now, in this moment, and then again, in the next new moment.

Jesus sends his Spirit to dwell within us—to teach us to stop and listen to the child, to look up for our computer or phone to make eye contact with the person who needs us, to lay down our labors and go out into nature to reconnect with the Creator of all, to pursue education to better serve our family or work, to choose to go without some worldly desires to practice simplicity and more authentically know our God, the One who chose to be poor while he lived on earth.

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Like the child playing Marco Polo with her companion, we work to attune our ears and hearts and minds for Jesus’ next call. #CatholicMom

As we seek God, let’s ask for the grace to be read to lay down our nets—our plans, preoccupations, expectations—so that when He calls we will be ready to follow the One who bids, “Come.”

For, as much as we feel like we call out to the Lord, waiting for an answer, we must remember—we only call out to Him because He calls to us first. As much as we seek Him, He seeks us all the more.

Do we want to be found?

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