3.09.2014

Meditation on Mary McCleary's Prodigal Son


(click to enlarge)


A fact of life is
that ranchers 
are land rich and cash poor.

So when the 
baby boy asked
for his inheritance,
the Father had
to place a parcel 
of the homestead
on the market
to make it happen.

And after the sale,
the Law abiding brother
dutifully pulled 
the fence and barb wire
from the old property line
and started to place the new 
boundaries of the estate.

And with each post 
he pounded into place,
he imagined his 
departed brother
nailing someone 
in a distant land. 

Angry Young Man

Luke 15:29:  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.'


poor child
of the Law!

There is no 
decree,
ordinance,
mandate
or rule
in your 
Book of Law
on how to
throw a party!

And  after
seeing how 
Grace celebrates,
you stormed up 
to your room
and started
to write
the absolute manifesto
on how to have fun.

GRACE

The grace of God means something like: 
Here is your life.  

You might never have been, 
but you are because the party
wouldn’t have been complete without you.  

Here is the world.  
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  

Don’t be afraid.  
I am with you.  
Nothing can ever separate us.  

It’s for you I created the universe.  
I love you.  

There’s only one catch.  

Like any other gift, 
the gift of grace can be yours 
only if you reach out and take it.  

Maybe being able to reach and take it is a gift too. 

Frederick Buechner