Is Dat Funny?

“Is dat funny”, says my daughter as she dances on the table after being told for the fourteenth time that we don’t dance on the kitchen table.

Part of me wants to laugh with her. But the other part of me is a little frustrated that we’ve told her a million times not to do this particular activity and yet she still wonders whether or not mommy and daddy will let it slide and laugh it off.

I want to say to her, perhaps rather loudly, “No honey it is NOT funny because it is outright disobedience. Mommy and Daddy will never laugh at you disobeying us. It’s just NOT funny”. In my finer moments I stay composed and calmly help her to see that it’s not all that funny because we’ve asked her to not stand on the table, then I try to redirect her towards things that actually are funny.

I see myself in my daughters actions.

I love making people laugh—and I’m discovering that she does too. Yet I’m beginning to wonder if maybe somehow she’s picked up a little of her daddies twisted sense of humor.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. –Ephesians 4:29

This one has been a battle for me. I’ve always had a weird sense of humor—and for years before Christ captivated my heart it was pretty vulgar. I’m the guy that not only crosses the line but crosses the line and spanks it. (Hopefully that statement wasn’t doing that). Or at least I was that guy, the Lord has transformed my wit over the years.

Yet, I still struggle.

At times I foolishly assume that just because something is funny that the Lord is slapping his knee up in heaven and going to give my words a free pass. It’s the humor clause. And so I say something really dumb and I’m like my daughter saying, “Is dat funny, God”?

No, son, it’s not. It’s disobedience and disobedience is never funny…

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*Just as a side note, my daughters disobedience is somewhat excusable. She’s not even quite three yet. She’s still trying to learn the ins and outs of humor. But that’s not the case with me. My “is dat funny?” moments are far less excusable.

Also isn’t my daughter about the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?