Waiting A Long Time

“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

I can picture him standing there, peering at the horizon. Perhaps this is the day -perhaps today his son would come home.

Maybe each day the father goes to a certain place where he can see far into the distance and looks to the horizon. Perhaps it is several times a day. Luke 15 doesn’t really tell us how often the father looks for his son. It only says, “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him…”

Last week we had lunch with a good friend. She came by for lunch, and we talked for more than 3 hours. Mostly Bill and I listened as she filled us in on the past year and her concerns for her recently turned-18-year-old daughter.

Our friend doesn’t have an inheritance to share, but the daughter had claimed her newly adult status to leave home and engage in a number of risky behaviors. As we talked, our friend said that she had repeatedly told her daughter that she can come home at any time.

As I listened to my friend, I sought for those words of comfort, something to say that would “make it all better”. But I found no magic words. Just as there were no magic words when our own daughter made some scary choices and we waited for her to come home.

These are those times when it is inappropriate to say, “It will be o.k.”, “everything will turn out all right”, “just hang in there”. We only have to look around us to see that young people’s decisions (and lots of older people as well) don’t always turn out “o.k.”, things are quite often not “all right”. They, and we, can make decisions that have consequences that endure the rest of our lives.

As I listened to our friend I thought again of that father of the “wayward son” (or Prodigal Son, if you prefer). When I was in despair, the story Christ told of the father “hanging in there” for what must have seemed a VERY long time, was a great comfort and encouragement to me.

And when the son does return home, willing to be treated as a servant, Luke says the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick, bring a clean set of clothes…’

When our daughter did finally return home, it was NOT a time to reprimand her; it was a time for clean clothes and a feast…

Over the years Bill and I have watched God take this terribly bleak time in all our lives and teach us - bring good out of it all. If nothing else, this catastrophic event in our family has taught me more than perhaps any other one incident.

It took our daughter a long time to heal. It will take our friend’s daughter a long time to heal. I am SURE it took the wayward son a long time to heal. But in that process, in that long time of healing, there is learning, revelation, an insight that comes as a result.

Rob Bell in Love Wins, has a most interesting insight on the older brother. He wasn’t so thrilled by this younger brother who had taken his half of the inheritance and “thrown it away on whores”. He wouldn’t even attend the feast his father had thrown to celebrate his brother’s return.

Rob says the older brother is a lot like many of us, he has access to everything the father has to offer, but he doesn’t take advantage, he doesn’t enjoy it, he just trudges through the chores each day with no joy at just being with the father.

As I look at my own life, there are times when I am like the younger son. I take “the money” and run – I enjoy what God has provided for me, but I do not enjoy it in His presence. There are other times when I am like the older son - not even taking advantage of all that God has for me all around me.

But just as He was for our daughter, just as He will be for our friend’s child, God is ever looking for me to return…and when we do – He throws a FEAST!