Our Secret Place

Every evening, I target to get my children to sleep by 9.30pm. As all of us are sleeping in the same room, its easy to see what are they are up close to bed time. One evening, after our usual devotion, I realised that Clarissa had sneaked out of the room. “Where did Clarissa go?” I asked. “She must be in the living room with Gong Gong (or grandpa).” Joe answered.

Recently, as part of a tin-mining museum contribution project, my dad has been busy with the building of a miniature palong. As Clarissa loves art and craft, she has taken a keen interest in the project by observing what my dad does every night and helping to pick up rubbish scattered all around his work station.

As the time ticked pass bedtime, I was wondering if I should get Clarissa. Afterall, I was glad that my dad had found himself a young fan and it was not frequent that they shared some thing in common. When the hour hand hit 10pm, I could hear Clarissa coming into the room. She was pacing up and down in the bedroom, looking thoughtful.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Gong Gong is having some difficulties in assembling his palong. He needed to find a medium to support the stilts, so that he could put it all together.” She said while giving a frown. “There must be a way. I have to help him with this.” Again, she was walking around the room, thinking. I was amazed at her determination. More importantly, I was touched by her keenness to help. I could almost imagine myself in her shoes, trying to resolve a problem “for God”, whether at my work place or with my children. My response would have been “There must be a way! I must pray and ask for God’s help!”

While I was getting absorbed in my thoughts, Clarissa turned to me and asked “Mummy, do you know of any suitable material?” I suggested “How about plasticine or play dough?” Immediately, she left the room to tell Gong Gong the options. Although Clarissa was too young to come up with a solution, I was profoundly moved by her intentions and actions. If my dad were in the room to see how troubled she looked, he would be moved. Similarly, when God sees us, in our secret places, how burdened we are over His people, His church, His designated workplace for us, He will be immensely moved too.  And when we turn to Him with our problems through prayers, He could but only help us.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

File picture of a palong:-