We the Prodigal's Son

This week we read about the parable of the Prodigal's Son found in Luke chapter 15:11-32. Most of us know this story already but as I attended New Testament I was able to look at the story from a different perspective.
In the beginning of the story (15:12)  we find out that the younger son of the father asks for his inheritance. The problem with this is that one normally doesn't get their inheritance till their father is passed away. As we pondered this we realized how rude this was! This son is practically telling his father "Hey, give me my money, you are pretty much dead to me. I don't want to wait around for you to physically die, I just want my money."  Then, as we are familiar with, the son proceeds to go waste all of his inheritance on riotous living. This struck me as some pretty harsh actions from this young man, however, what struck me even harder was the fact that we act the same way towards our Heavenly Father sometimes. The parallel here is sometimes we do things that aren't right. when we sin it is as if we are going to our Father in Heaven and saying "Look, you have given me the power of free agency. I am going to take it and disregard all that you have given me and I am going to make wrong choices. I don't need you any more, I will do this on my own and I don't care about my consequences." Well, as the story goes on we find that this young man really struggles and finally realizes what a terrible mistake he has made. He was able to be made humble due to his experiences. So one day on his own he makes his way back to his Fathers house with intentions of becoming a servant for his own Father so that he can at least feed himself. My favorite part of this lesson is 15:20-22. As the son approaches the house it says he was "yet a great way off" but his Father sees him and runs towards his son to embrace him. The Father wasn't just minding his own business just working as he sees his son. It is impliedc that the Father was diligently watching for his son. The young man didn't even have to walk all the way to his Father because the Father met him, in a sense, he met him "half way." Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he watches and waits for the day that we will return with Him, especially after we have sinned or made mistakes like this young man did. He won't even make us come all the way to him on our knees. He is willing to meet us half way and help us. We are His children no matter what we do. And he loves us. The last point that I loved about this story was the compassion this Father has on his son. During the time period of Christ it was filled with belief of Greek and Pagan gods who were believed to have no compassion for the people that worshiped them. It was even said that the thought of one of these gods ever weeping for one of the mortals of earth was ridiculous. We worship a God who's made himself vulnerable to us as individuals. Just like the Father of the parable, Heavenly Father loves us and has made it so we are part of Him. I can't imagine how He must feel whenever we do something that distances ourselves from Him. On the other hand, I can only imagine the joy He feels whenever we make choices that draw us nearer unto Him. I love this parable and hope that I can keep it in mind whenever I consider making a choice that could draw me away from my Heavenly Father. But I know even when I make mistakes I have someone who will be watching and waiting for me to return to Him again.