The Empty Seat

Every Sunday right at six
Mama brought the supper in
Biscuits warm, potatoes steaming
Everybody gathered then

Daddy pulled the chairs out slowly
Like he'd done for all those years
Four of us were sitting down
But five plates still appeared

I finally asked him one evening
"Dad, why set that place again?"
He looked toward the empty chair
And softly said to me

"I don't know when he's coming home
I just know his place is here"

So leave the empty seat there
Don't put that plate away
He may be a thousand miles from home
But he's still my boy today

I don't care what roads he's taken
I don't care how long it's been
If he ever turns back toward this house
I'm letting my son back in

I don't know when he's coming home
I just know his place is here

They'd had words one summer evening
Hard enough to shake the walls
Daddy said some things in anger
His boy said worse, then left us all

Tail lights disappeared at midnight
Down that old two-lane road
Mama cried there in the doorway
Daddy never let it show

No Christmas cards, no birthday calls
No number we could try
But every Sunday Daddy set that plate
And never told us why

Until one night I heard him praying
When he thought no one could hear

"Lord, wherever my boy is tonight
Tell him his place is here"

So leave the empty seat there
Don't put that plate away
He may be a thousand miles from home
But he's still my boy today

I don't care what roads he's taken
I don't care how long it's been
If he ever turns back toward this house
I'm letting my son back in

I don't know when he's coming home
I just know his place is here

Years rolled by like Sunday evenings
Daddy's hair turned silver-gray
Still he'd reach into that cupboard
Still he'd set that extra place

We stopped asking, stopped expecting
Mama sometimes looked away
But Daddy never missed a Sunday
Never failed to set that plate

Then one cold November evening
Just as we were saying grace
Three slow knocks came from the front door
And the color left Dad's face

He stood up without a word
And I followed close behind
There beneath that porch light trembling
Was the brother we'd not seen in years

His coat was torn, his eyes were tired
He looked older than his age
He stared down at his boots and whispered
"Dad, I know I've got no place..."

Daddy wrapped his arms around him
Before he finished what he'd say

He said,
"I've prayed for this day every morning
I've watched that road every night
There's nothing you could tell me, son
That makes you less than mine

We can talk about tomorrow
Tonight just come inside"

Then Daddy pointed toward the table
With tears running down his face

And said,

"I saved your place"

No more empty seat there
No more untouched plate
The one we thought might never come
Walked through that door that day

Daddy didn't ask where he'd been
Didn't make him pay his debt
He just pulled that chair out from the table
Like he'd never once forget

And I finally understood
What Daddy somehow always knew

Love keeps a place at the table
Even when you're passing through

There's an empty seat waiting
For every wandering soul
For every heart that's run too far
And thinks it can't go home

The Father isn't counting miles
Or keeping score of where you've been
He's watching down that long road
Waiting for His child again

You may not know how to get home
You may be carrying years of fear

But the table's still been set for you

And your place
Is still
Here

The table's still been set for you

Your place is still here