“Whoever seeks God sits in the shadow of his penitence, but whomsoever God seeks sits in the shadow of his innocence.”
This is a quote from al-Hallaj. Dorothy Soelle says that what is to be learned from him goes beyond the Protestant search for God, with its preoccupations with guilt and piety. It is not the penitent children who seek their parents; rather the happy children know they are being sought, expected and accepted in the shadow of innocence. This reminds me of the story of children playing hide and seek. One boy hid himself so well that after a time the others, who couldn’t find him, got fed up and went off. Eventually the boy emerged and, dismayed at being abandoned, went crying to his father, a rabbi. The rabbi, when he heard what had happened, wrapped the boy in his arms and said, ‘Now you know what it is like for God. He is hidden everywhere but no one is looking for Him.’