Yesterday was ward conference in Dave's ward, so we both spoke in sacrament meeting. Our theme was 'Come Unto Christ' and we had a great week thinking, reading, and praying for inspiration about what we should say regarding the constant offer given to all of us to draw near to our Savior.
I love the story of the prodigal son, its tenderness and the hope it inspires. It is easy for me to identify with the son--his idea that what he wanted for himself was better than what his father wanted for him. No matter how far I have wandered, how much I have disappointed him, nor how many times I have needed his atoning sacrifice for my sin, our Savior has always welcomed me back as I have turned my heart and life back toward him. I have experienced the merciful forgiveness of the Savior, I know of his love and grace. He brings peace and satisfaction to my life that is unavailable from any other source.
I closed my remarks yesterday with this beautiful poetic rendition of that parable.
“To Any Who Have Watched for a Son’s Returning.” by Mary Lyman Henrie
He watched his son gather all the goods
that were his lot,
anxious to be gone from tending flocks,
the dullness of the fields.
He stood by the olive tree gate long
after the caravan disappeared
where the road climbs the hills
on the far side of the valley,
into infinity.
Through changing seasons he spent the light
in a great chair, facing the far country,
and that speck of road on the horizon.
Mocking friends: “He will not come.”
Whispering servants: “The old man
has lost his senses.”
A chiding son: “You should not have let him go.”
A grieving wife: “You need rest and sleep.”
She covered his drooping shoulders,
his callused knees, when east winds blew chill, until
that day . . .
A form familiar, even at infinity,
in shreds, alone, stumbling over pebbles.
“When he was a great way off,
His father saw him,
and had compassion, and ran,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”(Luke 15:20)
[Ensign,March 1983, p. 63]
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