My Prodigal Daughter

The story of the Prodigal Son has been important to me for a long while. Our only daughter made a hard job of growing up and as a family we became part of the ordeal. As a teenager she made unwise choices of friends and as a consequence became involved in a life style that was contrary to the principles and values that we had chosen for our family and certainly outside of God's will for her.

I spent many sleepless nights lying awake praying... wondering when/if she would return, only to get up in the morning and turn out the light in the front porch that was always left on until the last of the family had returned for the night. I learned then about the waiting heart of the Father.

Then came the day when she left home. Literally 'ran away' without warning or any indication of where she was headed and I tried to remind myself that if the Father had not allowed the prodigal to leave, he could never have returned home. Over the next few years we seemed to lurch from crisis to crisis. As parents we 'picked up the pieces' when things got unmanageable for her, only to see her dust herself off and move on again. Back to a lifestyle that was both distasteful and incomprehensible to us.

One evening there was yet another collect phone call. As I accepted the charges and waited to be connected, I wondered apprehensively what new disaster awaited us. Then came her voice, 'Mum, sorry about the reverse charges, but I had to ring and tell you that I've given my life to Jesus'. Can you imagine my joy (and relief). I was overwhelmed. My daughter 'had been lost and was found, she had been dead and was now alive'. I still feel that rush of joy (and the tears of joy behind my eyes) as I remember the moment. None of the hurts or pain of the past was important any longer. I phoned all my friends and family with the wonderful news. I think at that time I began to understand the Father's joy at the homecoming of his child. The words from the old hymn rose up inside me.

And all through the mountains, thunder-riven
   and up from the rocky deep
There arose a cry to the gates of heaven,
   'Rejoice I have found my sheep'.
And the angels echoed round the throne,
   'Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own'.

I felt as though I was part of that rejoicing throng. But a thought has occurred to me over the last few days, it that has stopped me in my tracks and I can not quite get my head around it. The notion that the Father might possibly feel that same joy over...ME!!