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The Salmon. Every fall, in the cold, clear rivers of the Pacific Northwest, a miracle of return unfolds.
Scientists call it “semelparity”—reproduction that ends in death. But believers see something deeper: a picture of sacrificial return, a longing for home so strong that it overrides every instinct for self-preservation.
The salmon do not hesitate. They do not calculate the cost. They do not turn back when the river grows steep or the water turns shallow. They press on— driven by an inner compass, a homing instinct written into their very being before they ever left the stream.
And when they finally reach the spawning grounds— exhausted, scarred, dying— they complete their purpose.
They give everything so new life can begin.
Now listen to the prodigal.
He, too, had left home. He had demanded his inheritance early— a polite way of saying, “I wish you were dead.” He had squandered everything in a distant land. He had ended up starving among pigs, longing for their food.
But something stirred inside him— a homing instinct, a memory of the Father’s house, a pull stronger than hunger, stronger than shame, stronger than self-preservation.
“When he came to his senses…” he turned. He set his face toward home. He prepared a speech of repentance, expecting nothing more than servitude.
But while he was still a long way off, the Father saw him.
The Father didn’t wait at the gate with arms crossed. He didn’t send a servant with a lecture. He ran— robes hiked, dignity forgotten— ran to his son, threw his arms around him, kissed him again and again.
Before the confession was finished. Before any proof of change. Before any restitution.
Just because the son turned homeward.
The salmon return to spawn and die. The prodigal returned to be reborn.
Both stories whisper the same truth: There is a pull toward home written into every created thing.
The salmon’s instinct is coded in its DNA. The prodigal’s longing is coded in his soul— because God has set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
And the Father is always watching the road.
For additional devotions, please check out "Flashlight Eyes" and "Flashlight Eyes Volume 2" available in both the Kindle and paperback formats. Available at Amazon.com. Also, please visit You Tube or Spotify to listen to our original Christian songs which have been transformed by Suno.ai into masterpieces. Go to the albums "Vic and Eva Zarley - Volume 1, 2 and 3". Here's a link to You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@VicAltonZ
