There is a cute video on the internet about a dog who is hiding behind a flower pot. Her master is calling, but she doesn't want to come. All you can see is her ears poking up. When the sliding door shuts, and the coast is clear, she emerges. 

A friend told me that when she calls her dog and he refuses to come, it doesn't bother her. But if she tells her son what she expects him to do and he ignores her, it does. 

It is funny how the same circumstances can strike us differently depending on a single factor. It reminds me of a well planned scientific experiment. Change only one aspect and find out what happens. Group A adds spinach to their diet for a month, and Group B does not. What is the effect? 

I notice inconsistencies in how I respond to parallel situations. If another driver is slow to respond when the light changes, I get miffed. If my novice driver/daughter thinks carefully before stepping on the gas, I am patient. 

"Take all the time you need, honey."

When I was a freshly licensed driver I nearly crashed into my own father, coming the other way. We were going opposite directions around an especially inhospitable corner that is now closed to traffic. He told me that the passenger beside him had a few salty comments about me, not knowing that I was indeed his child. Perhaps my father did too, before he recognized the white 65' Mustang he had generously bought for me. 

Perhaps God is doing an experiment on us.