Article December 4, 1976 Issue

The Might of Love's Tenderness

PIERRE PRADERVAND

The seashell called angel wing is delicate and exquisitely beautiful. One sometimes finds numbers of them on the shore when the tide recedes, their winsome loveliness resting gently on the sand. One wonders why they were not crushed to smithereens in the pounding of the huge waves that brought them in. Yet wave and wing coexist perfectly, appealing symbols of the infinite tenderness that blends with divine omnipotence.

If we find ourselves in a supposedly hopeless situation from which we see no issue, or if we are tired of fighting an illness that seems to drag on endlessly, or burdened with "impossible" family or work difficulties, it is time to discover or remember that we are cupped in the mighty hands of divine Love with such infinite tenderness that the problem, whatever it may be, will melt away. When we are at the heart of a trial, we may not feel that we are sure to be the victors. But what we humanly feel is not what matters. What matters is what is, divinely. God, omnipotent Being, Love, cradles His children firmly in His embrace; knowing this, we can be safe and free from whatever is unlike good.

The Bible is full of striking assurances of Love's tenderness. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," Luke 12:32; the Master, Christ Jesus, promises us. Why does God give us the kingdom? Not because of our struggles or our virtues, our belonging to a particular religion or church, or even our faith. No—it is simply the Father's good pleasure, in other words, His loving, joyful, free gift, which is ours to grasp when we open our hands and hearts.

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