“…and he divided the estate between them.” (Luke 15:12)
Circumstantial life can be a spiteful task master but even that pales in comparison to a father’s expectation for his children gone awry. Parents in business often mistakenly assume their children will follow in their footsteps. You can be sure that dividing his beloved estate between his two sons for dispersion wasn’t what he had envisioned or imagined as the culmination of his life’s work and labour at this stage of his life.
The father was unaware just how great a gap existed between himself and his sons and in fact between his sons themselves, he had assumed his sons understood his sacrifice. Why he worked so tirelessly to provide in the earlier years the means for both of them to go on to greatness surpassing everything he had ever achieved.
Neither of these sons though had asked to be born, neither wanted to follow in their father’s footsteps, each resented the obligatory expectation for succession in the family business. In fact the only thing they hated more than each other was the comparisons made about their attitude to privilege and opportunity... “the success never comes cheaply…it demands commitment and sacrifice story.”
When faced with the reality, his sons didn’t share his vision for the future, his own motivation and drive for it came to a standstill. There was no comparison in his heart, his love for his sons far outstripped any desire for materialism but his inability to express himself to them was exacting a fearsome price now. So proud of them both, he couldn’t see or didn’t want to see their shortcomings…thinking they’d grow out of it, just like he did when facing internal struggles with hormones and self identity at their respective ages.
The difficulty still remains for siblings to realise their parent is a person also and isn’t only on the scene to serve the best interests of the child but have their own personalities and needs too. When I was a child, I thought as a child, when an adolescent as an adolescent but as a mature person one can appreciate each season of growth and development in those younger and their impatience.
I was young once too you know, just as you’ll be old one day yourself and when you are, you’ll better understand the deep experience life brings to one’s personality and expectations from it. Above all though the longer you live on this planet the inescapable truth that everybody needs somebody to love and to be loved and appreciated for who they are is essential.
Every afternoon the Prodigal Father sat on his veranda in the shade watching for a glimmer of his son’s certain return…for like him also there was a time when he had been the prodigal. This gave him the greatest assurance of all…that love never fails and will lead to reconciliation and full restoration every time if given a chance.
Your Heavenly Father is waiting…
Let’s Pray:
I pray God will somehow soften your heart to enable your embracing of reconciliation – you’ve been judged unfairly it’s true but it’s time to make things right. God will always love and make time for you – make a start now and take the first step – you will be welcomed before you take the second. In Jesus’ Name! Amen.
