Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

• Mark 14:36

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

• Galatians 4:6

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

• Romans 8:15

“I used to fall in love with all
Those boys who maul refined ladies
But now I tell each young gazelle
To go to Hell – I mean, Hades

For since I’ve come to care
For such a sweet millionaire

While tearing off a game of golf
I may make a play for the caddy
But when I do, I don’t follow through
’cause my heart belongs to Daddy

If I invite a boy some night
To dine on my fine finnan haddie
I just adore his asking for more
But my heart belongs to Daddy

Yes, my heart belongs to Daddy
So I simply couldn’t be bad
Yes, my heart belongs to Daddy
Da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da

So I want to warn you, laddie
Though I think you’re perfectly swell
That my heart belongs to Daddy
’cause my Daddy he treats it so well”

• Cole Porter, My Heart Belongs to Daddy

I thought this odd, almost against the rules, to have two Cole Porter songs in a row, but then again.  I doubt if there really is a rule that says that.

Would I use this song as a worship song?  Not on your life, but it says a lot about the human condition and our sin nature.  And if we focus on our Heavenly Father, Abba, instead of an earthly Daddy, the sentiment of the song is on point.

What is wrong with the song?  The singer is admitting to being a tease.  She’ll flirt.  She’ll eat the fine foods and give those “come hither” looks, but she does not follow through once the guy falls prey to her temptations.  God does not tempt us and neither should we.

Now for some definitions: A Caddy is usually someone who carries your golf clubs.  A good caddy is someone who knows the golf coarse and can suggest the proper club to use, give options to avoid the hazards, and line up your putt when on the green.  They had those good caddies in Thailand, all female, but I was too busy to play.  The point in the song is that they are low level servants.  A refined lady would not be caught dead making a play for the caddy.

Now when dining with someone who is of the proper social class, let us say she asks him to come to her house to dine on Finnan haddie.  What is that?  Finnan haddie is a Scottish delicacy, northeast Scotland.  It is cold-smoked haddock, smoked after head and the entrails removed and cut open.  Smoking is done using green wood and peat, which adds a distinct taste.  But being cold-smoked, it must be cooked before serving.  But again, the gentleman gets nowhere with the romance.

Any perceived virtue by stopping short of getting naughty is kind of ruined in the fact that there is a tease up to that point.

But the tagline, the often-repeated words of the song, are “because my heart belongs to Daddy.”

We should not even begin to go down the road toward a big sin by doing the hundreds of little sins to get there, but whenever along that path to “no good” when we realize that this is not what Daddy wants of my life, the song hits the proper message.  The Holy Spirit is whispering that we should not do something.  Then at some point of ignoring the whispering voice, the Holy Spirit asks in louder terms, “Are you seriously going to proceed in this manner?”  That is when we should repent.  We should turn around on that wrong road and get back on the right road.

But if our heart really belongs to Daddy, would we not avoid that wrong road in the first place?

Okay, we are not perfect.  We will not be perfected until we are with Jesus.

We should be reverent with our Heavenly Father, but the three verses above are the only times “Abba” is mentioned in the NIV.  Jesus got personal with His Father in Gethsemane.  “Daddy, I am scared and I would love for you to change your mind, but your will be done.”  Then Paul tells the Galatians that the Father places Jesus in our hearts, but the Holy Spirit is calling out to the Father, “Daddy!”  And then in Romans, Paul suggests that we call out to God in the same manner.

We can speak in terms of “Our Heavenly Father” in 90% of our prayers, but when we feel emotionally spent, physically worn out, or we are in a lot of trouble, maybe not even of our own doing, it may be time to cry out through the tears, “Daddy, I need you.”

Here is Mary Martin singing My Heart Belongs to Daddy. In the introduction by Tony Randall, he points out that she first sang the song 42 years before this television broadcast in 1980.  The woman who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Peter Pan, when she was in her forties, looks pretty good for a lady approaching 70 in this video.

Let us avoid the temptation, both as tempter and tempted.  But when we feel at our wit’s end, it is okay to cry out to “Daddy.”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.