OK Daddy

When my current 18 year old daughter was about 14 years younger we knew her as the “Politely Disobedient Child.”  She was known for her sweetness, infectious smile, contagious laughter, twin pigtails, two fingers always stuck in her mouth…and for her agreeable disobedient demeanor.

There was a day when this treasured 4 year old spent the day with her grandmother and grandfather. We strongly instilled in her the importance of listening and obeying her grandma and grandpa so that she would be able to enjoy another such trip sometime in the future. “Ok Daddy!” she pleasantly affirmed, “I will.” As with most mischievous children, you can’t help but have a special affection for the combined innocence and defiance.  Nearing the end of her special day with Grandma and Grandpa, she was sitting at the table when my dad walked in and asked her, “Were you good for Grandma today?”

“Yes Grandpa,” she replied.

“If I asked Grandma, would she say that you good for Grandma?”

After several seconds of pause she replied… “Well…maybe I was a little bad…”

This experience melded well with my own encounters with the delightful disobeyer.    

“Carissa, when you are done with your breakfast, you need to put your plate in the sink ok?”

“Ok Daddy.”

When I would see that her plate still sat at her spot and not in the sink an hour later, I was forced to ask, “Carissa…why didn’t you put your plate in the sink?”

“I forgot.”

This was expected pattern. 

“Carissa, get your coat on…pick up your toys…go find your shoes…come to the table…”

“Ok, Daddy, Ok, Daddy, Ok, Daddy, Ok Daddy.”

Each request ended WITHOUT the coat on, the toys picked up, the shoes found or Carissa being at the table.

“I forgot, I forgot, I forgot, I forgot.”

Honestly…I don’t think she forgot…I think she just chose not to do those things at the time that she said that she would do them.

Jesus shares a similar parable in Matthew 21:28-32, where a father asks his two sons to head into the vineyard to work.  The first son says “No,” but then changes his mind and goes and works, while the other says “Ok Daddy,” but then doesn’t go.

Only one of these two sons is actually doing what the father asked him to do, the other, is not.

May we learn to change our minds away from our ways and towards the ways of the father…and do what it is that he wants us to do.