This painting is my expression of what I believe the Savios love truly feels like.
As I painted this moment— a father embracing his returning son I wasn't just thinking of the well-known parable. I was thinking of every one of us, and of Christ. To me, this embrace speaks to something deeper than forgiveness. It speaks to belonging, to aching love, and to the mutual need between the Redeemer and the redeemed.
When I imagine the Savior, I don't see Him standing far off, waiting coldly for us to come back. I see Him running. Reaching. Holding us with a kind of love that says: "I've missed you. I need you. I'm whole when you're home." That's what I tried to capture here not just the relief of the son, but the joy and longing of the father. That embrace is not passive. It's full of feeling. It's the moment heaven and earth come together.
In the details, the strong hands, the weight of the bodies pressed together, the softness of the countryside in the background...1 hoped to show how sacred and real this kind of love is. It's not abstract. It's personal. It's about two hearts grateful to be together again.
Christ needs us as much as we need Him-not because He is incomplete, but because love, real love, desires connection. And when we finally turn back to Him, we don't just find mercy...we find a Savior who has been watching the road, arms open, ready to say,
"Welcome home."
