A Party for a Party

"“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk  without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

Isaiah 55:1-2

Dear Friends,

There’s this story in the Bible that Jesus tells about a young man who wanted more than his family could give him. He was never satisfied, always wanting, never enough. I’m sure after months of tormented fantasizing, dreaming about what else there was for him, the adventures he would have outside his family home, he mustered up all his courage and asked his father for the inheritance promised to him after his father would pass away. Severing all ties to his family, all connection points and safety nets by basically declaring he wished his father was dead, this young man left with no intention of returning. 

When I think of this story of a young man squandering his wealth, I imagined he must have partied really hard, spending all his money on sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. (My imagination may have been influenced by an Evangelical cartoon called McGee and Me where they portrayed a Pleasure Island existence for this young man). But regardless of how he spent his wealth, “squandered” is the word Jesus used in this story. 

Wasteful. Ignorant. Unplanned. Living for today instead of tomorrow. Very Ecclesiastes in nature, right? 

I’m not sure how long it took him to end up with nothing. Maybe years went by? Maybe he didn’t know who he was any longer as the weeks, months, years of extravagant living chipped away at his soul? Maybe he lost himself and didn’t know how to get back to himself? Every step that he took further away from his home lead him deeper into a wilderness of his own making. Was this a blessing or a curse for him? And is every wilderness a blessing or a curse? 

Yes. Yes it is.

In his wilderness lack, regardless of how he arrived, he gained new perspective. In his starvation—starving for food, meaning, connection, purpose, relationship—he began to notice his world differently, seeing with new eyes, smelling with new olfactory, touching with heightened nerves. The way the world worked around him didn’t change but he began to change because he was finally pay attention. When every comfort was removed in this wilderness, he could see what truly mattered. 

Jesus tells this story about a young man who left with everything and came home with nothing. But did he come home with nothing? He lost himself but gained himself. He came home with nothing. He came home. He. 

Friends, when I’ve lost everything around me, it’s there I’ve found me. And when I’ve made my way back home, it’s not my stuff that’s arriving. It’s me—stripped down, defeated, bare, and needy but whole and vulnerable, leaving the wilderness changed and expectant.

It’s Heavenly Love that greets me with wide open arms and says, “Come my thirsty and defeated child. Your wealth, status, influence mean nothing here because all I have is yours. Come, my love, and join the party I’ve thrown for you.” 

In the lack I am filled. In the loss I am comforted. In my emptiness I can finally see me and I can know I’m home.

I may have left for a party that depleted me, stripped me, and left me for dead. But through a wilderness invitation to see differently, I returned for a party that made me whole.

With (love),
Bethany