I’ve just finished reading a book. Actually it’s two books in one. The first book is Max Lucado’s, The Applause of Heaven; the second, Tony Campolo’s, The Kingdom of God is a Party. The book has been in my personal library for years, but I’ve just gotten around to reading it. Leisurely reading is one of the luxuries afforded by retirement!

I don’t know how the book got into my library since I didn’t buy it. I think it was a gift, a thought confirmed by the name, Ann P. Spinks, handwritten inside the hardcover, along with the date, 1991.

Max Lucado’s book is his take on the Beatitudes of Jesus found in The Gospel of Matthew, chapters five through seven. The title, “Touches of Tenderness” is the one he gives to the second Beatitude, part b: “…for they shall be comforted.” The Beatitude in its entirety reads, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

He, after having cited some instances of the fatherly tenderness which he has given to his young daughters, says, “As a father, I can tell you they are the sweetest moments in my day. They come naturally. They come willingly. They come joyfully.”

He then asks, “If all that is true, if I know that one of the privileges of fatherhood is to comfort a child, then why am I so reluctant to let my heavenly Father comfort me?”

After which he raises a series of provocative questions like: “Why do I think he [God] wouldn’t want to hear about my problem?”

“Why do I think he is tired of hearing the same old stuff?”

“Why do I think he groans when he sees me coming?”

“Why do I not take him seriously when he questions, ‘If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?” (Matthew 7:11)

And then comes the most poignant question of all. Lucado asks, “Why don’t I let my Father do for me what I am more than willing to do for my own children?” That gives me pause for reflection. Why doesn’t he? Why don’t I?! Why don’t you? If he did, if I did, if you did, we would all be “touched by tenderness.”