Bearing tenderness

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

Blessed be the Lord! 
For he has shown me the wonders of his love in a besieged city. 
Psalm 31:21 

I log into the online audio conferencing just in time. It has been a hectic day with one scheduled appointment on top of another and I have hardly had time to prepare for this podcast recording hosted by two people I admire. I have been a bit nervous.
 
As we settle in, I remember that I am in the company of friends. This is holy conversation, and the technology that connects us seems to evaporate the physical distance. I imagine us sitting in comfortable chairs in the living room with cups of tea. This moment is nestled into a friendship shaped by years of encounters: ice-cream and borrowed DVDs and babysitting. Vocation and prayer and inspired adventures. 
 
I am at home here. I recall other conversations in my day. People I have known for years and those I have met recently. Relationships woven from shared work and exciting endeavors and disagreements and reconciliation and challenges and visions for how we can change the world. 

In the midst of struggle, God gives us to one another to cherish and be cherished. We bear the promise of love into a world that yearns for tender care.