Ashamed to Return So Late

“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:”

Jeremiah 3:14

I know how long it's been. I know you count the years, the months, the times you thought about coming back and pulled away because you thought it was too late, that I had already given up, that the door would be locked. Shame over returning after so long away is a weight that keeps a lot of people stuck on the road back.

But listen to what I said: I called you rebellious children and still said 'return.' I didn't change the label before calling you back. I called you exactly as you are, rebellion and all, because the invitation doesn't depend on you already having it together. It only depends on you turning around.

There is no length of absence too long to erase my desire to have you close again. The clock counting the years you've been away isn't the same clock that measures my love — that one has never run backward.