Tender (Psalm 119:77)

Tender is one of those things that you can't be on the inside without it being obvious on the outside.  It translates accordingly into words and actions, posture and attitude.  Amidst the power and glory of my God, perhaps I haven't put much thought into His tenderness.

But I whisper-adore under my breath as I put in the first load of laundry, trusting that this truth will become my truth this day.  I watch the sun ease it's way above the trees and picture His hand cupping it from below, slowly and tenderly lifting it to fuller brilliance.

I think of chosen gentleness in the face of anger, chosen laughter in the aftermath of dissension.  Sometimes tenderness is deliberate, I suppose.  A gracious response despite preceding circumstances.

But sometimes tenderness just leaks from a genuine heart.  Amidst the rowdy chaos of family and pizza and birthdays, a little boy strokes his baby cousin's cheek, the younger one's eyes adoringly fixated on the giver of the gesture.

His tender mercies come to me.  And my response could not be anything but wholehearted adoration.