“Granny, hearing of your great age, I have come to see you.”
Granny’s answer was only a grunt. She was evidently not in a good mood. Though the old woman was known in the neighborhood as much for her hard, unfriendly heart as for her great age, the newcomer had ventured to visit her for the sake of Him whose “eye seeth every precious thing” (Job 28:1010He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. (Job 28:10)).
Granny sat still on her chair, offering no seat to her visitor. The old shack itself was not inviting, and the visitor received only silence for her few remarks. Finally, after saying she would come again, she heard a muttered, “You can if you like!” From this unwelcoming atmosphere the visitor departed.
“Granny, I have such good news for you!”
There was her visitor again! Granny looked surprised. It was not often “good news” came to her. She offered her visitor a chair this time. The caller sat down and began to read the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel. As she read, she began to see tears sliding down the dark, wrinkled old cheeks. Still she read on: “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:2020And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)).
She read it again: “‘When he was yet a great way off—’ That watching father knew at once, in spite of the rags and the lagging step, who it was!
“‘And had compassion, and ran—’ He cannot wait to welcome his loved one!
“‘And fell on his neck—’ He did not give him time to finish his speech. Love shut his mouth.
“‘And kissed him.’ No matter the rags and dirt; it was the returning heart the father wanted.”
Granny’s hard fist came down upon her knee with a heavy thud. “I never heard the like of that before!”
Granny was saved and changed. She saw Christ in His beauty revealing the love of God. She had the joy of learning of Him, and then went in her great old age to be with Him whom she had kept out of her life so long.
Have you ever heard of such love? When the soul has no plea but “I have sinned,” then God’s love freely flows out. No matter what or who you are, it is yourself God wants, just as you are.