Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Prodigal Sons

16 years ago I heard a speaker say that 'Compassion is Love in Action' - That phrase has never left me and at times has driven me forward when I have not known how else to make a difference with broken children.

Yesterday morning JC, one of our boys who ran away 10 days ago, returned home. Dirty, disheveled hair, raspy voice, exhausted, head lowered, ashamed to look in our eyes. All I could do was to hold him so tightly and he clung so closely. I could have held him all day. A week of worry, fear, frustration, anger, desperate cries, desperate prayers melted into one wordless gesture that expressed everything my heart had to say.


 I've read, heard, watched and even personally performed a dance interpretation of the story of the prodigal son but this week it has had a whole new raw reality depth. What it means to long for and look for your lost child - no matter what they have said or done, to yearn for their return, for the filling of the hole....the waiting and watching..... Forgiveness and compassion are verbs that require sacrifice....I'm learning too they are probably the two most powerful core actions of parenting and the only response we can have that truly demonstrates the Father. Parenting really is HEART work!

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