The Hardness of Soft Things and the Softness of Hard Things

Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.  Isaiah 50:7

My face is soft, but it is facing toward heaven and cannot be turned. Can a woman have a face like flint? Yes.

It is difficult to be soft. One might say it is hard to be soft. 

And it is kind and loving to be strong. To resist. To stand. One might say it is soft to be hard.

Men are often strong on the exterior and gentle inside. Women can sometimes be gentlewomen with lives that reflect their inner depth and strength.

Jesus was the gentlest person imaginable. Yet He was the epitomy of strength. The Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah. The Creator of the universe, naked and nailed to a cross, risen and coming again leading the host of heaven on a white horse.

Softness and strength together. Within a person, a couple, a community. Making something special and good.