tears

We received communion last Thursday. Sometimes during communion, I like to look at the people around me. So many different people approach the cup and the bread. I find myself wondering what brought them to this place? How did they find the courage to allow God into their hearts? What pain have they suffered?

But last Thursday, my attention was captured not by the people receiving the bread of life, but by one offering it. She was serving, and she was crying.

I believe she was crying because she experienced a moment of clarity. She was alive and aware of what was taking place, and she was riveted in the beauty of the moment. She was still weeping when my turn came to receive the bread. She offered it to me, and I took it. Moved by her compassion, I kissed her cheek. She was beautiful. When confronted with beauty, people do unexpected things.

I have a friend who is full of passion and energy. You should see her talk when she is excited. You can’t help but be caught up in it. But it’s been tough for her lately. She is suffering. The last time I saw her, she was crying. We embraced and we cried.

Tears of joy… tears of pain. Tears speak in a language that nothing else can emulate. When you have no words, your tears intercede for you. When you allow your tears to be seen, you allow the one who sees them to see a piece of your soul.

Jesus deeply loved his friends, and wept for one who was dead.
John 11:35 Jesus wept.

Does God collect our tears?
Psalm 56:8 You have taken account of my wanderings, put my tears in your bottle…

Why must we sometimes sow in sorrow to reap in joy?
Ps. 126:5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

God saw the tears of Hezekiah and granted him fifteen more years of life.
Is. 38:5 …I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears…

Luke 7:36-50 reveals a stunning portrait of love between a woman and her Savior.
Luke 7:38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume.