Can You Say the Word?

Yesterday I had a fun experience with my girls.  I was on the phone, and Katie decided she was going to starve to death if she didn't get a snack.  She and Anna had been playing in the other room, which was where she started whimpering.  She came into the kitchen and started trying to tell me what she wanted. I couldn't understand the gibberish, so I took her to the pantry and asked her to show me. 

She pointed up and said she wanted, "THAT!"  Well, there were about 500 things in that general direction, so I still didn't know what she wanted. I lifted her up, hoping that I could get a better answer if she was closer to the food.  Didn't help.

I called Anna in and asked if Anna knew what she wanted.  I was hoping that she'd said it clearly before coming in- since it was the whimpering that was making it unintelligible.  Well, Anna didn't know either, but decided to find out what her sister wanted.

She asked Katie what she wanted, got the same unintelligible response I had gotten, and realized a new approach was needed.  She said, "Katie, can you say the word?" 

Katie was quick to respond with, "Word."  We all laughed, and Anna tried again.

"Katie, can you say the name?"

Katie's response?  "Name."

We finally got it figured out what she wanted and got it to her, but it made us all laugh really hard.

She answered the questions, but did NOT answer the questions. :)  Yes, she responded appropriately.  Anna told her to say the word, so she said, "Word."  Appropriate response.  Didn't get us the information we were asking for....


It made me wonder how often we do that to our Heavenly Father.  Yes, we follow most of His rules.  But how often do we follow his rule by using this logic?  He said don't lie.  So how often do we answer a question with a technical truth, but still with the intent to deceive?  He said to clothe the naked, so how often do we donate an item of clothing so used it almost isn't wearable anymore- or ONLY the things we know we hate?  Yes, we followed what He said- but are we doing what He wanted us to do?  Are we doing what He did?

Just a thought.