What Love

See what kind of love the Father has shown Though orphaned in the world and left to die, You adopt me as your child, make me your own. You found me lifeless, cast off like a stone, And gathered me close, having heard my cry; See what kind of love the Father has shown. Raised as Your child, nevermore alone, I walk the wide world beneath Your blue sky As your child, having made me your own. But wanting as I would have, off I roam To the wild wood, other loves to try Just what kind of love has this Father shown? From your presence into hiding I've flown I could've stayed, hiding, serving up a lie, Denying I'm your child, pretending I'm my own. Broken and shoeless, shall I return home? Shall I enter the joy? Or remain outside? What love is left that the Father hasn’t shown? Would he give us all, not even sparing HIs own?

© Randy Edwards 2017 artwork: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Return of the Prodigal Son, c. 1661–1669. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg #poetry #christianity #villanelle, #gospelofluke #walkingwithjesus #prodigalson