It’s been a while since I’ve written a post! As often happens I’ve started the year with a review of the last year, looking back with gratitude and then looking forward with a view on what I want to achieve this year.

Over the Christmas break, I saw a quote that got me thinking and I want to share it with you.

What would have happened to the prodigal son, if instead of receiving the Fathers embrace first, he met his older brother?

I wish I’d taken a note of who said this because it’s really sat with me. Most people who come to church are in need of a Fathers embrace but are often meeting the older brother. People who have been faithful to God but have lost the wonder of their salvation and the blessings they have received.

The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve wanted to be ‘the Fathers embrace’ to everyone I meet. So I’m passing this on to you! In order to do this, we need to get to know who my Father God is! The only way to do this is to stop our busy-ness and be in relationship with Him. Allow Him to lead and guide us. Be aware of His Holy Spirit at work in us.

The older brother in the story, was faithful to His father, but not out of love and devotion. It came from a place of duty and obligation. I wonder if sometimes we get so busy serving, we forget love and devotion. Duty and obligation require our action but not our hearts.

Have you ever seen a child wash up their dinner plate after being asked fifty times to do it! It’s not done with devotion and love! It’s done because it has to be. It’s done out of duty. What a difference there would be if, as soon as that child finished eating, they thought, I’m so grateful for that meal, what can I do to be a blessing? They then not only wash up their own plate but do the others and maybe even clean the rest of the kitchen and say thank you for the meal.

Our Father God isn’t asking anything from us that isn’t for our good. Spending time with Him is good for us. It cultivates a right sense of gratitude and a better understanding of how much we have been blessed. We have to fight to get this time against all the demands of distraction around us.

As we get to know the Father, we’ll naturally find His love overflowing to those around us. We’ll find His compassion and heart for the brokenness we see around us. We’ll welcome the prodigals with open arms and they’ll experience a love that’s out of this world!

So whatever I do this year, I want to do it with this in mind. What would the world be like if we all learnt to be like this.