Hi, Bridge Town Church, and those of you joining us online, my name is Bethany Allen,

and this is the Bridge Town Daily for Thursday, January 7.

Over the last few weeks, I've been thinking and reflecting a lot about how I respond to the world

around me. Now, when I say respond, I don't simply mean the kind of responding you prepare for

before you enter a room of strangers, or how you emotionally run the gamut on what you're going

to say to that specific person if they bring up that specific issue. What I'm talking about is

that gut level, often messy, responds to both the good and the bad in the world. If 2020 brought

nothing else, it's revealed to many of us what really lies beneath the surface. And if I'm honest,

it's not all good. As we face this new year with the hope of a vaccine and a more open future,

it would be easy for most of us to move past what was revealed in us during this difficult season.

Does it simply say good riddance to all that 2020 brought and just move on?

But I fear that underneath that kind of thinking lies an even greater temptation that has the

power to destroy not only the ethos of our hearts, but our ability to navigate the world in the way

that our rabbi Jesus called us to altogether. Every day in my time with Jesus, I read this book called

Springs in the Valley. Now you may not recognize that or be familiar with it, but you may be familiar

with its sister book, Streams in the Desert. Both are written by a missionary's wife who goes by the

name of Mrs. Chaz Kalman. Now a few weeks back, Mrs. Kalman wrote about what she called spiritual

or divine tenderness. That's not a word I use very often, but when I read it, it struck me deeply.

Tenderness, as I think of it, is often something I equate to meekness or fragility or sensitivity.

It's not your ideal character descriptions in today's day and age. But in her writing, Mrs. Kalman

wrote that the very essence of the gospel is divinely imparted tenderness and sweetness of spirit.

And that blew me away. She goes on to say that tenderness in the life of a disciple is a supernatural

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