I do not speak out of turn and I play by the rules of life. I try to do the right thing and I work hard. I suppose I'm what you would call 'a good girl'.
So when I read the story of the lost son I always feel for the eldest. He does everything right, but who gets the big party? Right, the youngest who has squandered his whole inheritance!
And that's not even the worst of it. The worst part is that it's the eldest son who gets the bad press, for resenting his brother and therefore being petty and smallminded.
As a mom I totally understand the love of the father and his joy for having his lost son back, but sometimes it seems as if being bad gets you more love and appreciation.
I suppose this makes me smallminded and petty too, but I really wonder about this.
As a mom I make it my business to appreciate all my kids and not, strange as this may sound, favor the ones that are bad!
Friday, March 27, 2009
A good girl
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5 comments:
Definitely one of those thought-provoking questions. :-) I think the point is that God loves us no matter our attitudes - we're never completely "good". If we're looking over at someone and thinking we're better than them then we're missing the point. As someone who never got drunk, stayed away from drugs, waited when it came to love and my husband, and has tried so hard to be perfect (and didn't succeed), I know how it feels to be the "good girl" and not understand why the bad girls get more attention. And why bad girls are bad in the first place. But when I stopped trying to figure it out and started looking to God and trying to figure HIM out, things started coming together.
I won't always be "the good girl" - and I want God to have that same forgiving attitude, I want him to be able to throw a party for ME next when I've messed up. Thankfully, that's what He's all about. :-)
Romans 3:23, 24 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=3&version=73) (Hey, I like that version!) :-)
Those are just my thoughts anyway. :-)
Thanks for commenting on my Fitness Friday post!
Sorry that was so long! lol
I can so relate with your feelings about this story! It is just such a foreign consept for us to understand. We are all about reward and consiquence.
I am realizing that God's love is for every one, not if your "good and try hard" or if you "could care less". God's loves each and everyone of us whether we choose to love Him in return. He is pleased by our love and our obedience to Him. There is blessings that come from that. But regardless, He is always there, waiting to accept us. We may have consiquences for our choices, but He loves us none the less and is willing to take us back.
"Because by grace you have salvation through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given by God: Not by works, so that no man may take glory to himself. For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them." Ephesians 2:8-10
I know what you mean. . .So far I only have one child but I'm already worried about when #2 comes along because I don't want to favor one over the other. I would like to hope & think they will both get equal amount of love & attention from me.
My small group has been looking at this parable a bit lately, I know one point made was that the older son did also have plenty given to him by his father - such as the comfort of living there, stability etc. But I agree there are some lessons we need to learn from looking at the older son in this story.
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