This parable speaks to me as a story of forgiveness, in three parts.
The son...
Being forgiven can feel like a soothing balm, but only if we allow it to be applied. To accept forgiveness, we must first forgive ourselves.
"Forgiving ourselves is one of the hardest parts of living free and well. We know what our secrets are; we know everything we have done and everything we have left undone. When we can't forgive ourselves, we stay sick, and those things keep us living in shame." ~Becca Stevens, Love Heals
Shame is not fruitful ground. We won't grow if rooted there. But forgiveness is nurturing. Forgiveness helps us heal and expands our capacity to show compassion for others. We are kinder and more merciful for having received mercy ourselves.
The brother...
We often hold our grudges tightly. But joy cannot coexist with resentment. Compassion doesn't flow from judgment.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do." ~Colossians 3:12–13
Bearing with one another indicates that sometimes relationships are hard. We hurt and we get hurt. Holding these hurts in our heart, letting them stew and smolder, slowly poisons us from the inside out.
Share your grievance. God never asks us to bury our pain or discount our experience. Be open and honest with the one who wounded you. Then forgive. With that forgiveness let the burden go. For only from forgiveness and release will true healing come.
The father...Our Father
The father loves with abandon and forgives without strings. God's compassion and mercy are endless. There is no offense we have committed that he will hold against us, if we only seek to be forgiven.
most merciful to all who call on you."
God waits. God hopes. God knows us, all parts of us. And God loves us still.
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