#tenderness

You don't blast a heart open," she said. "You coax and nurture it open, like the sun does to a rose. ↗

— Melody Beattie

#love #tenderness #love

A man must at times be hard as nails: willing to face up to the truth about himself, and about the woman he loves, refusing compromise when compromise is wrong. But he must also be tender. No weapon will breach the armor of a woman's resentment like tenderness. ↗

— Elisabeth Elliot

#manhood #relationships #tenderness #love

Live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness. Tenderness awakens within the security of knowing we are thoroughly and sincerely liked by someone... Scripture suggests that the essence of the divine nature is compassion and that the heart of God is defined by tenderness. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#gentleness #god #identity #love #self

You let me set the water in the shower, and followed me into the booth to stand there with me under the warm spray. You kept your head down, not looking me in the eyes—though if you were shy, I couldn’t tell. You had no reason to be. You know what you look like. I know you don’t remember what we did. I want to tell you. ↗

— Julio-Alexi Genao

#sex #tenderness #love

You know those little moments when an unexpected act or a spoken word affects your heart with sweet, satiating intensity - a simple gesture that possesses deep, personal meaning beyond what anyone realizes?  You know those tender moments?  That's God pressing his lips on your forehead and whispering, 'I love you'. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#god #inspirational #kindness #love #mercy

There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing. Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry. ↗

— Robert Hass

#body #continuing #days #evenings #flesh

When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become. ↗

— Louis Pasteur

#become #child #i #inspires #may

Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#christianity #gentleness #god #identity #tenderness

If we're talking about masculinity and tenderness, I don't look at Clinton. ↗

— Aaron Eckhart

#clinton #i #look #masculinity #talking

[The] insistence on the absolutely indiscriminate nature of compassion within the Kingdom is the dominant perspective of almost all of Jesus' teaching. What is indiscriminate compassion? 'Take a look at a rose. Is is possible for the rose to say, "I'll offer my fragrance to good people and withhold it from bad people"? Or can you imagine a lamp that withholds its rays from a wicked person who seeks to walk in its light? It could do that only be ceasing to be a lamp. And observe how helplessly and indiscriminately a tree gives its shade to everyone, good and bad, young and old, high and low; to animals and humans and every living creature -- even to the one who seeks to cut it down. This is the first quality of compassion -- its indiscriminate character.' (Anthony DeMello, The Way to Love)... What makes the Kingdom come is heartfelt compassion: a way of tenderness that knows no frontiers, no labels, no compartmentalizing, and no sectarian divisions. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#compassion #faith #jesus #kingdom #light