How then does a tender heart live in the world these days?
That’s a question I asked in a post about a month ago. It’s a question I continue to carry and live with. Maybe you also are carrying and living with that question.
To ask the question is to stand in and hold the tension between a tender heart and the pain and needs of the world. It’s not a choice between one or the other. It’s the tension of choosing both.
On the one hand, that means remaining tender-hearted and not letting my heart become closed, cynical, and hardened. On the other hand, it means being realistic about what is happening in our world but not letting my heart despair, give up, or naively assume everything will be okay.
To live with a tender heart in the world these days means that I am responsible to the world but I am not responsible for the world. I neither turn away from nor become possessed by the world’s pain and needs.
So back to my question. How does a tender heart live in the world today?
I don’t think there is a final and definitive answer to the question. I think there are, however, practices that can help us hold the tension between a tender heart and the pain and needs of the world. When we stand in that tension we “stand with God in God’s suffering.” (Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry, 152, quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
That’s what I want to explore in an upcoming series of posts. Over the next several weeks I’ll offer brief reflections on the following:
- Staying Informed;
- Hope;
- Prayer and Action; and
- Success.
I’ll probably have more questions than answers. I usually do. I want us to be self-reflective about holding the tension, not strategic.
What does all this bring up for you?
Are you holding the tension these days? How? What is helping with that?
Does it sometimes feel like the tension is tearing you apart? When have you chosen between your heart and the pain and needs of the world? Which did you choose? What happened?
How do we live wholeheartedly and at the same time guard our heart?
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Image Credit: Image generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, April 23, 2026, https://chat.openai.com.
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