In the parable of the prodigal son, we find a powerful lesson for families and especially parents. After the younger son “came to himself,”12 he decided to go home.
How did he know his father wouldn’t reject him? Because he knew his father. Through the inevitable misunderstandings, conflicts, and follies of the son’s youth, I can visualize his father being there with an understanding and compassionate heart, a soft answer, a listening ear, and a forgiving embrace. I can also imagine his son knowing he could come home because he knew the kind of home that was awaiting him. For the scriptures say, “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.”13
I testify that our Heavenly Father leaves the door open. – Robert D. Hales, “With All the Feeling of a Tender Parent: A Message of Hope to Families,” Ensign (CR) May 2004