Behind the Song: Child of Mine

Child of Mine is a song about prodigal children. Estrangement between parents and their children is on the rise. Statistics show that up to 40% of adult children are or have been at one time estranged from one or more parents or a significant family member, with the adult child being the one, most of the time, to cut off contact. The number of adults who have a Biblical worldview has plummeted to about 6% of the population, contrasted with about 30% when I was a young adult. We live in a post-Christian culture, and many young people, whether or not they were raised in church, have been pulled away by the culture into rejecting everything their parents taught them.

As a parent who has experienced this myself, I know first hand that having a child reject you can be devastating. Emotions are strong and complicated. We grieve as though our child had died, we feel anger for the betrayal and rejection, we envy families that are intact, and we feel shame that our parenting fell short, and that if only we had been more strict (or maybe less strict!), or if only we had been a better example, that our child would not have left the faith.

And we love our children. We love them with a love that hurts so bad. We want to compel them to come home, but we don't know how. Our friends encourage us to just love them, but we don't what that looks like. Do we keep calling? Do we keep sending birthday gifts? Or do we just wait it out and pray, hoping that God will soften their hearts?

The father of the Prodigal Son in the Bible waited, and when his son came home, he ran to him and welcomed him with open arms. He didn't send money or go looking for him to drag him home, he just let him go, and then waited until he came home. He let his son come to the end of his resources and his friends, and then his son came home of his own free will after he came to his senses.

I don't have a lot of advice for other parents who are going through this, but I want to encourage you that you are not alone. Having a prodigal does not make you a bad parent. Even God, the perfect parent, has prodigals.

This song is from my heart. I love my kids. I always will. I pray for the day when they will come to the end of themselves and come home.