WHERE NO ONE CAN SEE ME...

Once, a Sunday school teacher gave each of her little students a small object and asked them to hide it anywhere they liked. “Only thing you remember, my sweethearts,” the teacher told them, “that no one should see you as you hide it.”

The little ones were excited. They ran around to find the loneliest place – far from any one’s sight – and, one by one, they came back and stood before their teacher. But, even after twenty minutes, Eddie had not come back. Finally, when he appeared, his face was sunk. “Teacher, I could not find any such place to hide this thing,” he said stretching the object before his teacher.

“What happened my child?” the Sunday teacher asked Eddie, “Tell me, why didn’t you find a place to hide it?”

“But, teacher, there is no such place, any where around,” the little Eddie cried, “Wherever I went to hide it, I felt God was watching me.”

The teacher affectionately held innocent Eddie close to her. The earlier Sunday, she had taught her children in the class, “My little angels, God is every where… We can not hide from Him anything… He watches what we think and what we do… He comes to know our every wish, every secret, every joy and every sorrow. Every sin.”

I must have been a little child of age six, seven or eight – when my own Sunday teacher, in my village church, had narrated to us this story. But, some little things, in life, do not fade away from our memory. This story of my Sunday teacher is one of those things. Every time, I am happy or sad, every time I do something good or bad, every time my mind indulges in something inappropriate – this old story of my Sunday teacher pops up before my heart… and, I do smile at God. “You caught me, again,” I say to Him… fully knowing, He will give me another chance…and, yet, another!

God watches me. It is such a powerful thought…

If I long for my life to be in alignment with my core Values.

The question, here, is: What are my core Values?

The question, here, also is: Why do I need Values in my life?

“Is He there in this pillar?” Hiranyakashipu had asked angrily his little son Prahlada. “Yes, He is,” was the fearless response of the innocent one. The father had brought down the pillar, consumed with rage, only to be killed by Lord Vishnu – who came out from the pillar as Narasimha – half man and half lion.

Little Prahladas that we all are… Our God resides everywhere, even in the pillar… even in the debris of our sinful thoughts and acts.

The thought that He watches me keeps me in His fold, always. It is such a lovely thought…

It is such a lovely story!

GERALD D'CUNHA