For years at Fresh Market, we would place any slightly rotting fruit or vegetables in a box and local farmers would come to pick it up to give to their sheep, pigs, or goats. If it is really bad, even the animals won’t eat it and we would have to throw it away. But with the new county regulations, it now all goes in a designated bin. That means we must tear open the trash bags where the rotting fruit has been basking in the sun and dump it into the bins.  Last Tuesday I was filling in for our faithful volunteers who normally do this not-so-amazing task when rotting plums and their juice came pouring out of one of the bags and onto my legs and shoes. The smell was even worse than the sticky mess. I felt like the prodigal son wallowing in the scraps even the pigs wouldn’t eat! 

That may have been a long way of introducing a story most of us know well.  A son who disowns his father and splurges away his inheritance in all the worldly ways a young man can think or imagine only to find himself penniless and destitute.  Eating with the pigs. 

Most of us have been there on some level. We have disobeyed, rebelled, and fallen way short. We have found ourselves scavenging for scraps of a life we thought would bring pleasure only to realize it didn’t bring Abundant Life. We have felt the separation and longed to return to the arms of our Loving Father. The good news is that we have a Heavenly Father who is full of compassion. Just like the father in the story of the prodigal son. He is ready for you to come home.  He will come running to you!  All you need to do is turn and start heading home!

Are there areas of your life where you have gone astray?  God is looking on the horizon.  Waiting for you to return to him. With open arms.