Prayer from the Parable of the Prodigal Son

Father, the moment in Luke 15:20 that breaks me is not the speech he rehearsed in the pigsty. It is that You saw him while he was still far away. He was practicing his lines. You were already running. He was bracing for a cold welcome. You had already ordered a coat. By every measure, he did not deserve a robe and a ring. And yet that is what was waiting. I have to be careful here. There is a part of me that wants the drama of coming home without the hard work of turning back to You. There is another part of me that has been the older brother for years, working on the porch and quietly resenting it. Both of those versions of me need this story. Both need to come inside and sit at the same table. Make Your welcome real to me. Help me receive it without shrinking it down to what I think I deserve. Amen.