What can you learn from a pig?
Have you ever lost everything you were trying so desperately to get?
Have you ever had all your plans and dreams seem to vanish in a puff of smoke and think, “Why God?”
Please read Luke 15:11-20
“So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” – Luke 15:15-16
I have never had as much as when I lost it all because when left with nothing I found Love.
If I would have had any other thing or possible solution to my life would I have found God, would I know the value of His Love? If I could have bought my happiness with things or if I still had money to alleviate my pain would I have come to Love?
In this beautiful story by Jesus there are some things that I missed for a while until I meditated on the characters in this story. The first thing that hit me is that both of the sons were “sons” and they were both living in the house with the “Father.” This wasn’t some person outside the family who didn’t know and see all that was in the house and all the beauty around them with the love of the family.
The lost son or prodigal son is interesting to me as another word for prodigal is simply wasteful.
Could it be that some waste lives even some who already know of the love and beauty around them?
The lost son “set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” That country that was distant could that mean distant from Love?
My greatest wealth from God is my life, each and every moment; can I squander that on foolish pursuits?
Could wild living mean anything that would take us away from loving one another?
Somewhere in the reflection of the pig trough the one son found out and that radically changed him. Is the change worth it?
I have seen the pig trough and it can be a beautiful thing if we see through eyes that have learned about the real value of each and every moment.
I have been with the pigs and I have fought them for my food but the food I won was still garbage until I realized the fight for that food was not the Love that filled my soul instead of my stomach that will always want more.
What made the change for the son? Was it some person beating him over the head with a bunch of guilt?
There are seeds of Love that God allows us to plant but at the end of the day what brought the son back was “When he came to his senses” and that was the moment when the seed bloomed!
And oh what a fragrant bloom it is when we realize the Love that is at the Fathers house. When we understand that the kingdom of God is within us and going home is the desire to not “starve to death” for Love.
It didn’t matter what position the prodigal would have in his Father’s house he just wanted to be back in the light of Love. He didn’t care if he would be a hired servant and be permanently cleaning pots and pans he wanted the Love surrounding him and that was only in one place. He knew all other “things” and all his “effort” only got him to the trough and nothing he could do would ever amount to anything without LOVE.