The Prodigal Path

The story of the "Prodigal Son" is familiar to many.  A young man asks his father for his inheritance now, goes out and wastes it all by diving head first into bad choices.  Destitute, desperate,  and ashamed, he returns to his father's house, only to be welcomed with open arms.  I think there are some overlooked insights to be found in this story that would be important for anyone who may have a prodigal in their life. 

Whether it is your child or someone else you care about, watching someone on the prodigal path is heart breaking.  It can make you feel helpless and frustrated.  There may be times when you think, "Maybe this prodigal is never coming back."  Like the father in the story, you watch at the road, and you strain your eyes from seeking for the return.  You constantly are scanning, hoping, wishing to see something that will tell you the prodigal is coming down the road that leads back home.

I notice that the story doesn't mention the father ever sent delegations to find his son.  He didn't send out messengers telling his son he needed to come back home.  Maybe it happened and is not mentioned here, but I get the feeling that the father released his son to his own free will.  He had communicated his love to him while he was at home, and now that the son decided he wanted something or someplace else, the father let him go. 

This doesn't mean he gave up on him.  No, I believe this father held fiercely onto hope.  It was this hope that prompted him to actively scan the horizon every day.  I believe he had already rehearsed over and over in his mind what he would do and say when (not if) his son came back home. Like this father, instead of clinging to people and trying to change them, we should cling to hope, God's goodness, and his promises.  Release people to make their own choices.

I imagine what it would have been like if the father had pursued the son, pressuring him to return.  I believe it would have only pushed the son farther away.  I'm not trying to say we sit idly by while people walk off a cliff.  We warn people about the gravity of their decisions and where their choices are leading them.  However, once warned, we must let them own their own choices and live out the consequences of those choices.

I heard it said once, "Too many people wish for the end of the story when they are in the middle of the story."  This thought has many applications.  In the case of the prodigal, often we wish for the end of the journey, when the prodigal is still in the middle of the journey.  If we attempt to create a shortcut in the process, the end results could be disastrous.  Everyone's path or journey is unique to them and we must allow them to experience it fully.  We must allow time and space for God to work on the inside- the heart- and not just wish for change on the outside.

God, give us the strength to relinquish to you all that we have or desire, and to trust you with the outcome.  Help our desires to be set on you, and not on what we want to see you do.  Give us the power to hold on to hope and to focus on your goodness in our lives.  Silence the lies of the enemy: whispers of fear and worry and discouragement.  Let us hold fast to your promises and your character and let us walk by faith, and not by sight.  We will be sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see, because we trust in your goodness.  We believe that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and we release all of our desires to you and ask for your kingdom to come and your will to be done.  We are on our own journey with you Lord, and we are not responsible for anyone else's journey besides our own.  Help us to lean closer to you and to grow deeper roots, deeper faith.  We know who you are God, and we will not be shaken.

God Bless You,
Lisa