TENDERNESS

The other day as I was going into one of our local stores I happened on a scene that brought tears to my eyes.  A young mother and father were going in as I was getting out of my truck.  The mother had a newborn she was carrying in her arms, and the father was holding the hand of his little toddler daughter.  The little girl seemed happy and full of joy as she reached out for her mother.  With her arms full, there was no way the mother could scoop up her daughter, at which point the little girl began to cry. The father quickly scooped up his daughter and swung her up onto his shoulders, at which I could hear her cry turn into giggles.
Tenderness, plain and simple.
The reason it brought tears to my eyes is because even in my best moments I don't remember being that tender with my own children.  I'm not saying I wasn't ever tender, but it wasn't as natural as I saw with that young father.
If you look up the term 'tenderness' it means gentleness, and kindness.  God's own description of His nature is that he is gentle, and compassionate.  Gentleness and tenderness implies that the one showing tenderness is able or capable of being hard and callous to others.  It also implies that the one being treated with tenderness is physically smaller, or weaker than the one demonstrating tenderness.  God in his immense power and strength is tender, compassionate, and infinitely kind to those he created.  It was and still is in His power to completely obliterate or manipulate our fragile lives.  Instead he holds us tenderly and gently in his hand.  When we are old enough to walk on our own He holds our hands until we reach too far or want something that could destroy us.  Then He throws us onto His shoulders.
This relationship with the creator of the universe has become clearer the older I've become.  Like adolescents and teenagers, we can rebel and move far away from our loving, tender, Father, but it doesn't change His love.  He will always be there waiting and willing to scoop us up when we decide to come back to Him.
I know God loves me because he gives me a choice to love him back.  The power of choice is His greatest gift of love to us. It is proof of His tenderness that he gives us the choices we have.  He's not afraid of our choices, and at the same time He tries to help us make good ones. 
I've had people try to tell me how cruel God is because He lets people die, or go through horrifying experiences.  They'll throw out some terrible cruelty done by people to other people and ask me how He could allow that to happen.  My question is usually; "How do you suggest He take care of it?"  What would you do?   We don't have the benefit of seeing time from one end to the other.  We don't know who would be a monster, or who would be a saint.  Yet, in His immense love, the choice is there.  I don't want to be God, because I know my flaws and my nature.  It would be easy to say 'kill the Hitlers of the world before they are even born.  How many people would you be willing to snuff out of existence simply because they would later be monsters.  Eventually, you would become as monstrous as the ones you were trying to prevent from becoming monsters.  If you were God, would you tap their mind and make them 'good' people before they become 'evil?'  When would you stop allowing choice?  There is a tendency today to try to control how people think, what they can say, and what they can do, all in the name of safety.  It is an experiment that will end in disaster.  What constitutes a criminal act?  We really don't know what someone is until they do an evil act.  Till then we must be tenderhearted, and learn from the creator how to step back from the precipice of judgment.
Tenderness is the control of great strength, and the ability to keep your strength from hurting someone.  I always love to watch big muscled men pick up a little baby.  You know that these hulking strong men could crush the little life in their hands, but instead they tenderly cradle the little life in their arms.  To me, this is the definition of the tenderness of God.  Tenderness defines God. 
Outside in my yard, fragile sparrows are beginning to do their usual morning ritual.  They know a loving, tender, creator who's heart is ever concerned.  Jesus said not even one sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father knowing.  If He cares so much for the sparrows, how much more does He care for us.  If we trust him as the sparrows do, we'll see His tenderness as we swing gleefully onto His broad shoulders. We'll feel his unfailing compassion when we are cradled in his love.  Help us all to be tenderhearted toward one another.