Big Daddy
Stories
Lightly Goes the Good News
Scripture Stories For Reflection
"What?" Big Daddy yelled as he gripped the arms of his throne. "But that's impossible! How could they say no at the last minute? They told me two months ago they'd be able to attend." Big Daddy's voice echoed through the royal throne room. He was upset, very upset. He and Big Momma had sent out wedding invitations months ago and had quickly gotten replies from practically everybody. Handwritten notes like "wouldn't miss it" or "can hardly wait" or "what a privilege" appeared on virtually all the RSVP cards. Everybody knew when Big Daddy threw a party, the place to play was the Palace. In fact, all the other places closed on Palace days. Even if some misguided proprietor thought to keep a place open, no one would show up because the food, the drinks, the entertainment, and the company didn't measure up to what was at the Palace. "Are you certain the royal reminders we sent to the invited guests haven't garbled their messages?" Big Daddy searched the chief steward's eyes.
"Our reminders have been trained at the Royal Academy to listen carefully, Big Daddy," the chief steward replied.
"But why would anyone want to turn down the only bash in town? When we play the Palace there isn't any other life around!" Big Daddy tipped his crown forward, scratched the back of his head, and nudged the crown back in place.
"I know. I know," the steward agreed.
"I'd like to know why they're going back on their word -- now -- of all times? Doesn't it matter to them how we've already gone out of our way to make this a big day for them as well as for Junior?"
"You'd think so," the steward nodded.
"Yes, you'd think so," Big Daddy said softly as he rose and walked a few paces from his throne. "Stu, I know our royal reminders have had special training in correctly giving and receiving messages, but I want to be certain all the people we invited are aware how much time and effort Big Momma and I have spent on this party. Send out the royal reminders once more. Tell them we've got the food and drink ready. Not cheap hamburger but filets. Not low-grade scotch but Crown Royal. Not the Buzz Boys but the Royal Philharmonic. Let them know Big Momma and I will be at the Palace door to greet each one of them. And that we'd really miss not seeing them." By this time Big Daddy's eyes teared up as he repeated in a hushed voice, "We'd really miss not seeing them."
"Big Daddy, I will send out the royal reminders immediately," the steward said as he bowed and left the royal chambers.
The royal reminders set out that very day. Each and every invited guest was reminded exactly as Big Daddy intended. The Palace would be the only place to play ... it would be dullsville everywhere else ... Big Daddy and Big Momma personally would be there to greet them, etc., etc. Little did Big Daddy realize the kind of reaction his reminders would receive.
"Work is more important than playing at the Palace," one invited guest said as he pursed his lips and clenched a fist. "I agreed to go to the Palace before I realized that work is what life is all about. When Big Daddy decides to change the Palace into a stock exchange, maybe then I'll show up."
Another reminder had a problem with someone who didn't even want to open his door when the reminder knocked. "Leave me alone," the voice said. "Who needs parties? Who needs crowds of people? Who needs people? Tell Big Daddy I must have been crazy when I said I'd come to the Palace. I don't wanna be where there's people. You can't trust them. Leave me alone." The reminder stood silently for a moment, wondered what life, if any, there was behind the door. Sadly shaking his head he walked away. The reminder didn't know how fortunate he was to be able to walk away unharmed. Other reminders weren't so lucky.
"Big Daddy is up to something! I don't know what it is but he can't be up to any good. He's got to have an angle. Don't tell me anybody can be that good -- throwing a party and serving filets? Hamburgers, maybe, but not filets!" The big man muscled the reminder against the corner of a building. "Listen, buddy. If he's up to no good, you aren't either." Thereupon the man pushed, punched, pommeled, and knocked the reminder to the ground. Leaving the reminder in a pool of blood, the man marched off.
When the chief steward reported to Big Daddy what had happened to all the reminders, Big Daddy was very sad. "They will never be invited here again. Ever. If someone wants to make life one big job, fine. If someone else wants to seal herself off from everybody else, good. And if another chooses to misinterpret my intentions and cast a cynical eye on everything good, then let it be. They have all made their choices. But that will not stop me or Big Momma. Nobody is going to stop us from playing the Palace and throwing our party for Junior." Big Daddy put his arm around the steward, smiled broadly and continued, "Stu, I want you to send the reminders out again, this time to anyone they come across -- bag ladies, hookers, winos, exhibitionists, skid row derelicts, gays, lesbians, transvestites, flop house roomers, welfare mothers, unwed mothers, the divorced and remarried and redivorced. Let them know the Palace is the place to be, the only place to really be! Big Momma and I will be waiting for them. Oh, yes! Big Daddy and Big Momma will let them know they belong here -- playing the Palace like it was their own. Got the message, Stu?"
The chief steward nodded, bowed, and left the royal chambers. That very day the reminders went out into the byroads and rounded up everyone they met, bad as well as good. And they all played the Palace with Big Daddy and Big Momma like they never played before!
Reflections
"Excuses, excuses!" runs the expression and it could be an alternate title for Big Daddy. On one level the excuses are for not attending the party at Big Daddy's Palace. On a deeper level they are excuses for not participating in life.
What are our excuses and why is it they keep us from being involved in life? Some people will not answer the door when someone knocks. They prefer to watch television or pretend they aren't home. Other persons don't want to risk venturing forth. Too much effort! Too scary! Too little self-confidence! Still others prefer to comment negatively on the involvements of friends, relatives, and neighbors without becoming involved themselves.
But we have been invited to the banquet. We are meant to live our lives fully; and life lived in depth is the discovery of the pearl of great price: the Kingdom. Sad to say, there are those who profess to be in search of that pearl but who refuse to pay the price, which is to live life fully. They say it is the afterlife they look forward to, but this is nothing but a thinly-disguised refusal to live this life in depth.
Thank God the invitation goes out again and again. The story is told and retold and each time we receive a renewed invitation. How many times do we turn it down before it isn't offered again? Or is the offer ever finally withdrawn? Whatever the answer, we waste precious moments by refusing the invitation. Big Daddy is playing the Palace. It's time to go.
"Our reminders have been trained at the Royal Academy to listen carefully, Big Daddy," the chief steward replied.
"But why would anyone want to turn down the only bash in town? When we play the Palace there isn't any other life around!" Big Daddy tipped his crown forward, scratched the back of his head, and nudged the crown back in place.
"I know. I know," the steward agreed.
"I'd like to know why they're going back on their word -- now -- of all times? Doesn't it matter to them how we've already gone out of our way to make this a big day for them as well as for Junior?"
"You'd think so," the steward nodded.
"Yes, you'd think so," Big Daddy said softly as he rose and walked a few paces from his throne. "Stu, I know our royal reminders have had special training in correctly giving and receiving messages, but I want to be certain all the people we invited are aware how much time and effort Big Momma and I have spent on this party. Send out the royal reminders once more. Tell them we've got the food and drink ready. Not cheap hamburger but filets. Not low-grade scotch but Crown Royal. Not the Buzz Boys but the Royal Philharmonic. Let them know Big Momma and I will be at the Palace door to greet each one of them. And that we'd really miss not seeing them." By this time Big Daddy's eyes teared up as he repeated in a hushed voice, "We'd really miss not seeing them."
"Big Daddy, I will send out the royal reminders immediately," the steward said as he bowed and left the royal chambers.
The royal reminders set out that very day. Each and every invited guest was reminded exactly as Big Daddy intended. The Palace would be the only place to play ... it would be dullsville everywhere else ... Big Daddy and Big Momma personally would be there to greet them, etc., etc. Little did Big Daddy realize the kind of reaction his reminders would receive.
"Work is more important than playing at the Palace," one invited guest said as he pursed his lips and clenched a fist. "I agreed to go to the Palace before I realized that work is what life is all about. When Big Daddy decides to change the Palace into a stock exchange, maybe then I'll show up."
Another reminder had a problem with someone who didn't even want to open his door when the reminder knocked. "Leave me alone," the voice said. "Who needs parties? Who needs crowds of people? Who needs people? Tell Big Daddy I must have been crazy when I said I'd come to the Palace. I don't wanna be where there's people. You can't trust them. Leave me alone." The reminder stood silently for a moment, wondered what life, if any, there was behind the door. Sadly shaking his head he walked away. The reminder didn't know how fortunate he was to be able to walk away unharmed. Other reminders weren't so lucky.
"Big Daddy is up to something! I don't know what it is but he can't be up to any good. He's got to have an angle. Don't tell me anybody can be that good -- throwing a party and serving filets? Hamburgers, maybe, but not filets!" The big man muscled the reminder against the corner of a building. "Listen, buddy. If he's up to no good, you aren't either." Thereupon the man pushed, punched, pommeled, and knocked the reminder to the ground. Leaving the reminder in a pool of blood, the man marched off.
When the chief steward reported to Big Daddy what had happened to all the reminders, Big Daddy was very sad. "They will never be invited here again. Ever. If someone wants to make life one big job, fine. If someone else wants to seal herself off from everybody else, good. And if another chooses to misinterpret my intentions and cast a cynical eye on everything good, then let it be. They have all made their choices. But that will not stop me or Big Momma. Nobody is going to stop us from playing the Palace and throwing our party for Junior." Big Daddy put his arm around the steward, smiled broadly and continued, "Stu, I want you to send the reminders out again, this time to anyone they come across -- bag ladies, hookers, winos, exhibitionists, skid row derelicts, gays, lesbians, transvestites, flop house roomers, welfare mothers, unwed mothers, the divorced and remarried and redivorced. Let them know the Palace is the place to be, the only place to really be! Big Momma and I will be waiting for them. Oh, yes! Big Daddy and Big Momma will let them know they belong here -- playing the Palace like it was their own. Got the message, Stu?"
The chief steward nodded, bowed, and left the royal chambers. That very day the reminders went out into the byroads and rounded up everyone they met, bad as well as good. And they all played the Palace with Big Daddy and Big Momma like they never played before!
Reflections
"Excuses, excuses!" runs the expression and it could be an alternate title for Big Daddy. On one level the excuses are for not attending the party at Big Daddy's Palace. On a deeper level they are excuses for not participating in life.
What are our excuses and why is it they keep us from being involved in life? Some people will not answer the door when someone knocks. They prefer to watch television or pretend they aren't home. Other persons don't want to risk venturing forth. Too much effort! Too scary! Too little self-confidence! Still others prefer to comment negatively on the involvements of friends, relatives, and neighbors without becoming involved themselves.
But we have been invited to the banquet. We are meant to live our lives fully; and life lived in depth is the discovery of the pearl of great price: the Kingdom. Sad to say, there are those who profess to be in search of that pearl but who refuse to pay the price, which is to live life fully. They say it is the afterlife they look forward to, but this is nothing but a thinly-disguised refusal to live this life in depth.
Thank God the invitation goes out again and again. The story is told and retold and each time we receive a renewed invitation. How many times do we turn it down before it isn't offered again? Or is the offer ever finally withdrawn? Whatever the answer, we waste precious moments by refusing the invitation. Big Daddy is playing the Palace. It's time to go.
