Once, one of our church leaders gave a terrific talk about the "tender mercies" of God to us as human beings. The term has taken root in LDS culture and I hear it a lot. Another term for it might be "coincident."It means something that happens to us that gives us a lift, some sort of little blessing that seems insignificant to the "big picture" of things, but we enjoy.
Like when I bring a doughnut home for the kids for no reason except I love them and they would like it.
I thought of tender mercies when I saw this bucket the other day at the Lowe's hardware store.
Since Tom has lived well beyond his expected time, he is now having to replace some of the things that he has already given away. He is doing some work in his house and some of those tools he has given away, he now needs.
He picked them all out the other day at the store, piece by piece. As we were leaving, we wandered past the clearance rack, stuffed full of ugly house numbers and big weird man lights.
Low and behold, there was this bucket full of the exact tools he needs for his project. Even the bucket is a tool he needs to mix his grout stuff. All in perfect condition, all there, and all on clearance.
Do I think in the big picture that God's eternal plan for Tom would have been messed up if we hadn't seen the clearance bucket? No. Do I want to believe that this is a tender mercy to Tom just because God loves him and He knew Tom would like it? :) You bet. Like a doughnut from God.
I hope you have a tender mercy moment sometime this week. :)
