R&I – TxPat ***.
“There was a Father who had two sons…”
begins one of Christ’s most famous parables.
It is a brief and remarkable story. And as I have gone in life from being a son, to being a father, I find it incredibly poignant.
What does it mean to be a good, and godly, man? It means loving like you are a good father.
And what does it mean to love like a good father?
My daughter is six. And carries my heart strings around with her like a fashion accessory. And I don’t yet know what time will bring her: I guess I hope she’ll be six forever. But she won’t. She will grow up, she will have good luck, and bad luck. She will make good decisions, and bad decisions.
But whatever happens, I understand now, in a way I didn’t 7 years ago, that I will keep loving her. She will never be able to shake that. I will always have time for her. I will always have love for her.
In Christ’s parable, there is one father and two brothers who appear as characters. And, in my life, in my family, I have been the prodigal son, and I have been the elder son. And now I am the father.
Today, as I read the parable one more time, what struck me was that when the young son returned, his father was “filled with compassion” for the son who had made such tremendous mistakes with his life.
So… there’s my questions.
What does it mean to be a loving father?
What does it mean to be filled with compassion, and how can you live your life that way?
Sir Tainley