GRACE FOR PRODIGALS

“I once was found, but now am lost;

Had sight, but now am blind.”

Does grace still reach for us when we walk—or run—away from goodness? When we turn our backs toward home and seek amusements in a far country?

Nothing could be clearer than that Jesus is the Lord of second chances. When we have traded gold for trash, and walked away from all that’s holy, just, and good, we are—amazing!—not only eligible to return, but wrapped in welcome when we do.

Grace doesn’t wait on the front porch until the prodigal comes home. Grace follows him through every bad choice, each wasted opportunity until homesickness happens.

“I will arise and go to my Father,” we say, afraid the grace we knew might have been drained while we were gone. But then we feel the Father’s arms around us; we find how well the Father’s robe still fits; we taste the Father’s food in our mouths. And we can’t deny—or ever fully understand—the love that will not let us go.

“And grace will lead me home.”