the big campout with dad

So I was watching Davey and Goliath yesterday morning. The old claymation series. Somebody must have checked it out from the library on DVD (yes, you can do that. Shhhhh). Anyway, the story began with Davie upset because all of his friends’ dads made time for them, but his dad was always busy. He pouts a bit and behaves badly because of it, and then his dad comes in. Instead of chastising him, his father does something wise. He embraces him. He admits that he hasn’t had much time for Davey lately, tells him he’s sorry he’s been busy with work, and promises that if it’s ok with everyone else, he will take him camping this very night. Well, this is attitude tonic for our friend Davey, who becomes a new boy. He takes his sister for a ride in the wagon, and then I don’t know what happened next because I got busy doing other things. I did walk back through later, and I think they went camping at the end of the show. But I had in mind a different story, and the story I had in mind diverged from the “real” one and kept playing in my head. I’m funny like that.

In my story, Davey has the talk with his dad, gets promised a camping trip at the end of the day, and Davey comes alive. He takes his sister for a wagon ride. He helps his mom with the dishes. He waters the yard. He cleans up his room. He calls his friend up and apologizes for being selfish and rude to him earlier in the week. He helps an old lady across the street. He gets a cat down from a tree and returns him to the little girl next door. He becomes a good person. At the dinner table the whole family is all excited about the trip, just Dad and Davey (and Goliath of course) and nobody else. The phone rings and it’s his dad’s work. He can see his dad’s brow furrow and hear his voice frown. Sure enough, they need him to come in Saturday morning. And it’s the kind of thing where people say, “Family first. No exceptions,” and then you tell them what they need him to come in for, and you say, “Oh, yeah, you gotta go in.” The camping trip is off. Regardless of what is right or wrong about his dad’s decision to go to work, what about Davey?

Is the only reason for living a good and pleasing life the promise of camping out with dad at the end of the day? Or is the good and pleasing life really the best way to live?