Luke 15:28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in (the party for his lost brother). His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
My summers were spent tussling through sage brush and cow patties. Evenings lying on hay bales engulfed by the inky black sky, stars twinkling; my sisters and I would be at peace for the moment. We three mixed like gunpowder and lead–add a match and it was a tumultuous fire. Besides clothes, shoes, and friends, we fought over who was favored by our mom and who was prettier.
Flash forward 15 years later and we’re now comparing who has a flatter stomach and less stretchmark’s and manliest husband–I win hands down. It wasn’t until this past Sunday when I realized I still had “The Heart of the Older Brother.” There in the coolness of the church, I became undone. Wide awake, walls crumbling, not blind anymore to the source of pain in my heart. For months this ache ebbed from within. Restless, unhappy, hurting.
The heart of the older brother….he was angry and hurt by the extravagance of the gifts their father bestowed on the younger brother. For all anyone knew, he squandered it-spitting in his father’s face. Instead of getting what should have been coming to him, little brother was blessed and big brother felt left out, his hard work over looked.
As Pastor Jeff referenced the story of the Older Brother in Luke 15, I looked out across the sanctuary and wondered how many more of my sisters had fallen beside me. I’m questioning how many of YOU–dear-precious-mamas have felt like the big brother: left out, inferior, over looked, underappreciated, treated unfairly, forgotten, feeling defeated because God is blessing someone else? Rather than use us in for a ministry or bless our finances, God was seemingly lavished his attention on another?
But God hasn’t forgotten you. He responds urgency in his voice, wanting you to know he celebrates you too. The father responded to his older son with this,
‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time and everything that is mine is yours…”
In other words God is telling you and me, “I love you and haven’t forgotten you, my grace is yours.”
It’s God’s grace that brings the young wild brother to his knees. It’s grace that reminds the older brother he is not forgotten. Its grace that reminds us, it’s God’s to give.
Little mama when you feel isolated, overlooked, and forgotten; celebrate God’s grace. Pick up your skirts like the father and run to Jesus. He will cover you with his love, still your heart, whispering your name and reminding you of this–you’ve never left his heart which beats wildly for YOU.
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