The Struggle To Forgive

Surely, one of the most beautiful pictures in all of literature is the one in which the father of the prodigal son is looking down the road, hoping his boy will be coming home, and then running down the road eager to embrace him, eager to welcome him home, eager to forgive him!

The story is told of an otherwise loving mother who probably was less than eager to forgive her son and welcome him home, at least for a time. It seems that the young man had taken a temporary job in a far-off city and his mother was worried that he would be lonely. She went to a pet store and told the proprietor that she wanted to send a very special pet to her son to keep him company. The merchant replied, “I have just what you are looking for. The minah bird you see in that cage will entertain your son for hours at a time. It is the only…