prodigal son | Stray Thoughts

In Cathy Gohlke’s latest novel, This Promised Land, Ginny Pickering Boyden is finally about to realize her dream of traveling to her family’s ancestral home in England. Decades earlier, she had run away to marry her boyfriend before he shipped out to WWII. Her mother and brother disowned her; she lost the baby she was expecting; and her husband came back maimed in body and mind. She cared for him as long as she could, and then he spent the rest of his years in a nursing home. When he died, Ginny spent years recovering and paying off her debts so she could travel.

Now she has just retired from her job when she gets a letter from a lawyer in New Scrivelsby, VA–the town where her family owned a Christmas tree farm for generations. The letter says her brother has died and there is a problem with his will. She needs to come and settle the family business.

Ginny doesn’t want to go, but doesn’t seem to have a choice. She plans for a quick trip to sign whatever papers are needed, see her parents’ graves, and then get on with her life.

But the situation is more complicated than she thought. Her mother, who had died long before, had actually left the Christmas tree farm and family home to her. Her brother, Harold, had told his sons he was leaving everything to them, but he couldn’t since he didn’t rightfully own it.

On top of that, Harold was not in his right mind his last few years. Despite his son’s efforts, Harold took out a sizeable loan and didn’t pay two years worth of taxes.

Even if Ginny wanted the farm, there’s no way she could pay its debts. She has no choice but to sell.

Harold’s son, Luke, has been running the farm almost single-handedly. He believes his father’s lies about Ginny and figures she’s swooping to claim everything and sell it all, leaving him high and dry.

And then Harold’s other son, Mark shows up. A Vietnam veteran, Mark has been in and out of trouble with drugs and alcohol. He did some time in jail while his three children were placed in separate foster homes. All he wants is to sell out his part of the farm to his brother so he can try to make a new start with his children. He’s stunned to learn that his brother doesn’t own the farm.

All the branches of the family tree are fractured and barely holding on. Harold is angry and barely gives Ginny or Mark a chance. His longsuffering wife, Bethany, urges patience and grace. Mark’s children desperately need stability, but his addiction recovery is fragile.

They decide to try to maintain the farm through one more Christmas season to see if they can recover their losses. If not, Ginny will sell and divide the proceeds between them. Though keeping the farm is uncertain, Ginny hopes the rifts can heal and they can become a true family, something they all need.

Unbeknownst to them all, they have enemies without as well as within.

The Bible story of the prodigal son comes up often in this story, with Ginny realizing she has been in the place of both the prodigal and the resentful older brother. Now she wants to be like the welcoming father. But all the family’s problem make it difficult.

Ginny enjoys the hobby of pressing flowers and making pictures with the dried blooms. She shares this with the children and even uses their creations to make framed art to sell to help the farm. Along with the interesting process of how flowers are dried and pressed, the process symbolized that “something so pretty and permanent could come out of something as short-lived as a rose” and “life was not done–simply waiting to bloom again.”

I have enjoyed all of Cathy’s books that I have read, and this one is no exception. The characters are well-developed, and the faith element is woven in naturally. It’s easy to sympathize with all the characters and their struggles. I like how the author brought everything together in the end.

I listened to the audiobook, nicely read by Sarah Zimmerman.

(Sharing with Bookish Bliss)

Here are a few good reads from this week:

To Those Who Are Frustrated With the Church, HT to Challies. “It’s easy for a critic and the cynic to come into the local church and say, ‘Look at all this that is not yet done. Look at all this that is not yet complete. How can Jesus Christ be present in this?’ Jesus Christ is present in His church as the builder. The evidence of Christ’s presence is not that everything is complete, but that everything is in process. The fact that the church often feels more like a building site than a showroom is evidence of the presence of the builder.”

Help! I Want to Read the Bible, But I Find It Boring. “If we’re honest, I think we’ve all been there. It took years before I learned to enjoy and love the word—and that was after I became a Christian. Here are a few things I learned as a young person struggling to find a love for the Scripture.”

How My Mind Changed about End-of-Life Care, HT to Challies. My mother-in-law’s decline was a revelation in many ways. At one time I would have said that food and water should be given until the last moment. I didn’t realize that part of the body’s final shutting down means losing the ability to process food. Trying to get food into a person in that condition can cause problems. I don’t agree with withholding food and water just because someone is terminal. But there does come a time when treatment causes more harm than good.

Do You Have Enough Faith to Be Kind? HT to Challies. “If we are hesitant to be kind to one another in moments like this, it may be that we have more faith in brute force than the strength of our argument. Worse, it may be that we believe the power of public shame is greater than the power of the Holy Spirit. Our instinctive response answers an important question: Do we have enough faith to believe that ‘a soft answer turns away wrath’ (Prov. 15:1)?”

Help! My Kids Don’t Like to Read. Obstacles and tips.

As I read Shelly Hamilton’s update on her husband, Ron, his song “I’m Going Home” came to mind. At my first recall, I connected it with getting ready for heaven. But as I listened to it again, I remembered it’s a beautiful prodigal son song. I thought I’d share it with you: