One of my favorite stories in The Bible is about a young man who doesn’t love listening to his father nor doing what his Dad wants him to do. He wants thrills, pleasures and ventures off with hopes of making easy money — without having to do the hard labor that would be required if he stayed home with his family.

Soon though the young man starts to see life isn’t easy and he begins to realize all work that goes in to  caring for his basic needs. On top of this he misses his family interactions, home cooked meals and his comfy bed. Suddenly, the household rules established by the father no longer seem so bad — in fact, the young man realizes that a little stability would be a welcomed relief.

As he starts heading home ragged and discouraged with his pride broken, he sees his father running to meet him. Simultaneously, the man asks his wife to prepare a fine dinner and celebration for his parodical son who he had missed terribly and who is now choosing to come home.  

Now, as excited as the father was, the brother who had stuck around and done work all along? Well he wasn’t thrilled! He thought: “I’ve done the work all along. Why is my brother who deserted us being celebrated?” The father however explains he is thrilled that the boy he “believed to once be dead is now alive.”

While I think the lesson here is that there’s no greater love than that of a parent for a child  — I believe there’s another important interpretation to this parable: The young man realized he had made a mistake and he put his ego aside. He summoned up the courage to acknowledge this, while asking for forgiveness and the opportunity to start anew again.   

In the case of this story, I love that both the father and son decided to rise up together: To mend and reconstruct their relationship so they could go forward. 

It’s one of my favorite tales of love and forgiveness. 

I’m @DianGriesel aka a perception analyst & strategist; creative attitude disrupter & adjuster; author of The Silver Disobedience Playbook & TurboCharged: The Silver Disobedience Edition; and the blogger & model known as @SilverDisobedience  More info on my websites (search my name) and at Wilhelmina Models. Silver Disobedience® is a Registered Trademark