Prodigal
God, like the prodigal son, I squander gifts of my eternal inheritance. Like him, I spiral into deprivation and alienation.
However, the ‘prodigal son’ possessed something that I do not. He bore memories of his father, his loving home and his former comfort. I have no memories of You, only hearsay and promises, books and teachings. I have no memories of my heavenly home, only those of my life upon earth with its pleasures and its sorrows.
Would I, knowing God, have departed from You and our home? Yet I do not know You and I often depart from You. In my humiliation, I return to You, still incapable of appreciating Your love.
Hungry and desperate, I stumble towards You with little merit in my return. I carefully formulate my entreaty upon Your mercy, saying, “Father, I am not worthy to be Your child. Let me be as a hired servant that I may eat, drink, and have shelter, and that my wounds may heal, and I may live.”
I cannot comprehend the depth of Your parental love for me. Scripture assures me of Your unconditional love, yet in my repentance as in my disobedience, I am ignoble still. Because of Your nature and in spite of mine, I call upon Your merciful love. Let me become, and remain, worthy of such a Father. 2001