Dee Dah Day Dance

Dee Dah Day


John Ortberg writes about his children.
Sometime ago I was giving a bath to our very young children. Johnny was still in the bath tub and Laura was in her pajamas. Mallory was out of the water, but was doing what has come to be known in our family as the Dee Dah Day dance.

On this particular occasion, John was irritated. “Mallory, hurry!” John prodded. So she did—she began running in circles faster and faster and chanting “dee dah day” more rapidly. “No, Mallory, that’s not what I mean! Stop with the dee dah day stuff, and get over here so I can dry you off. Hurry!”

Then she asked a profound question: “Why?”

John had no answer. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no meeting to attend, no sermons to write. I was just so used to hurrying, so preoccupied with my own little agenda, so trapped in this rut of moving from one task to another, that here was life, here was joy, here was an invitation to the dance right in front of me—and I was missing it.

So I got up, and Mallory and I did the Dee Dah Day dance together.

Personal note: Next time the Dee Dah Day dance presents itself, let dance with all our might. Lets slow down and enjoy our children.