Friday, January 27, 2012

Five Minute Friday: Tender

Tender.

Go.

Today I am grateful for Jesus' tenderness toward me, for His intimate acquaintance with grief and suffering, joy and frustration. My heart is frustratingly tender these days, but such a condition compels me to place it continually in the only hands that are scarred but never inflict them. His tender mercies sustain me, from the magnitude of redemption to favorite cereals on sale, and every detail in between. 

But His tender care does not prevent tears or heartache. In fact, those are frequently His tools. Hugs from friends that unavoidably spurt forth unchecked emotion, emails from overseas read in public, lonely nights, and reserved conversations with friends. Everything about this deployment has me isolated to Jesus alone. What other mercy is at times so gut-wrenching and yet so deeply comforting?

Stop.

And now my five minutes are up. I look back at the two tiny paragraphs I have mustered up. Words just are not enough these days, neither in quantity or quality. But thank you, Jesus, for your Spirit who fills in my words with much better ones as You tenderly pray for me at the Throne of grace.



2 comments:

Heather said...

This is beautiful! And so very true!

Unknown said...

This was beautiful. He asks for all of us; even amidst the difficult times He holds our hands with His own scarred ones...*whispered "Thank you, Abba..."

Blessings~