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IPS Features
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My mother once
told me, "Son, if you want to know how strong a man is, look at how
tender-hearted he is." Isn't it strange
how things our parents say sound foolish at the time but
become clearer and clearer to us over time? Frankly, I thought my mother
might be a little soft-headed to make such a statement. The whole world
was telling me just the opposite. As I look back,
her words have described my own father's strengths. He was a short man
but would tangle with much bigger men. A cousin came home from the Army
where he had just completed paratrooper training. Dad challenged
him to a boxing match and got himself a broke rib for it. I could tell you
a dozen similar things about my father, He was fearless. But as the
years have passed, I remember the times he was tender, kind, thoughtful
and kind. That's where I see his strength. When he was macho, he was
acting out the expectation of the world. When he was tender, he was
acting out the deep impulses of his loving heart. As he got older, he
got sweeter and sweeter. One of my songs speaks of him: "An old man
with Christ in his eyes, can make me really high, he can almost take you
to heaven when he dies." A man who is
secure in his manhood doesn't have to arf arf and bowsy wowsy. He has
come to realize he is strong and cares not what people may think of his
kind acts. He has learned
that the tender-hearted people have a greater depth in their feeling
natures. He wants to be able to feel intensely like them. He
wants to feel deeply. He knows it is a sign of weakness to be afraid of
your feelings. He refuses to be fearful and cover it up with macho. I am overwhelmed
by a teaching in Ephesians: "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted
... even as God..." Those last three words are so powerful. They say
be tender-hearted because God is tender-hearted. We hear too much about
the power of God and too little about his tenderness. It is the
tenderness that can move us to be better, kinder, gentler souls. Dalton's website
is www.daltonroberts.com
and his writings are gathered at www.ipsfeatures.com.
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