Tenderness in Unexpected Places

The past couple of weeks I've been thinking about what it means to have a tender heart or to be tenderhearted in the most beautiful, Christian meaning of the word. The Lord sent me an elegant illustration of this through a friend, which prompted the following poem . . .

Detail from St. John's Bible

   And the Word became Flesh

     A Thank You Poem by Nancy Gerst

     A most unexpected gesture

     From the heart of a friend

     Took me by surprise

     Late one winter day as

     Spring was peeking

     Through the cracks in the door

     Of my winter weary soul.

Echoes of a December theme

Were brought to mind―

“The Word became flesh” ―

As a gift as real as Jesus in the flesh

Fell from an envelope sealed with Love

And timidly left at the door of my unsuspecting heart.

I lay wide awake that night pondering what moves

One soul to care how another soul feels,

To walk surreptitiously in another's shoes

Through challenges and disappointments

As words failed to take shape around

The deep thankfulness of my refreshed spirit.

Jesus with skin and caring eyes

Surprised me that day;

That’s how this kindness made me feel

And that was the best gift of all.

                            for R. by Nancy Gerst, March 3, 2012

Felix Mendelssohn wrote a whole collection of piano pieces that speak eloquently where words fail, Songs without Words.

Here is the lovely Op. 67, No.1 from that bouquet of melodies, recorded during a worship service prelude in 2005 with me at the piano.

This tender song, lullaby-like in it's angelic contours is one of the jewels in an amazing output from the heart and pen of a man who died at age 38, yet left the world a rich heritage in his many compositions.

An amazing project from our own day, The St. John's Bible, is a rich legacy for generations to come . . .

The Gospel of John FRONTISPIECE and INCIPIT