Today, before lunch, and after far too long a process for finally getting out the door, our two youngest went outside with me to "shovel" snow.  The sun had finally hit high enough in the sky that our driveway -- or at least what serves as one for us -- had some sunshine on it.  It was only about 32 degrees outside but the sun was warm.  Anyway, I had them "shovel" snow for a while, which really amounted to getting some snow on their little shovels and tossing it almost, but not quite, on their feet.  My main job was trying to make sure they didn't inadvertently hit the other girl with the shovel.
About fifteen minutes into our sunshine and snow, I remembered that there was an old tennis ball right at the edge of the driveway.  It was under the five or so inches of snow we had since last night and I made the search for it into a treasure hunt.  After looking for all of 30 seconds the twins turned to me to find it...which I did.  They were just as excited as if they had found it themselves.  We kicked the old ball around.  While it's nice outside today, that ball had seen better days.  It had been well loved by a dog at some point in the not too distant past.  But it didn't matter to the girls who could kick a little farther than they could throw snow.

While playing, Abigail lost sight of the ball as the snow was just deep enough in places to, kind of, cover it.  She looked for it, turning around and around, saying, "Where's the ball?  Where's the ball?  Where's the ball?"  I kept saying, "There it is," and pointing to its exact location.  "It's right there, Sweetie."  "Abigail, it's over there."  "There it is."  She turned and asked. I told and pointed.  But it wasn't until she actually stopped her asking and turning and looked at me that she should see where I was pointing and find the ball.

We can be like that with our faith.  We have questions.  We have needs.  We seek the treasure God intends for us.  But so often we spin around, trying to rely only on ourselves, not looking to the One who can really help us.

2 Chronicles 20:10-12 puts it this way as Israel faces an enemy:

"And now it's happened: men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir have shown up. You didn't let Israel touch them when we got here at first—we detoured around them and didn't lay a hand on them. And now they've come to kick us out of the country you gave us. O dear God, won't you take care of them? We're helpless before this vandal horde ready to attack us. We don't know what to do; we're looking to you." (The Message)

We need to look to God... our ever-present help in time of need.

Interestingly, right after Abigail saw where the ball was, she was done with it and moved on to something else.  Perhaps there's another illustration in there.