What if the Prodigal Had Known?

When the younger brother
Who’d abased himself in a faraway land
Decided to go home
He crafted a repentance speech:

I will arise and go to my father,
and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18).

But the miserable, wayward son
Never got to give his well-rehearsed,
Remorseful plea
Because the father saw him in the distance,
Hiked up his robe and ran to his boy
And fell upon him with kisses and joy
And interrupted the rebel’s soliloquy
With a patriarchal announcement
Of honor and festivity.

I wonder if the son had known
How kind his father would be
If, perhaps, the shameful profligate
Would have rushed home far sooner
To have his shame dissolved in
The father’s tears of joy.

May you know the kindness of God
For it’s His goodness that leads to repentance.