My friend and colleague Mebane McMahon preached a great All Saints Day sermon on Sunday that brought tears to my eyes. I don’t cry easily or often, and as I discretely dabbed at my eyes sitting in the pew I got to wondering why that is. There’s certainly plenty to cry about in our crazy wonderful world – a plethora of awfulness and a boatload of awesomeness that should cause tears of joy or pain to spring forth as regularly as old faithful.
I’ve been using artificial tears to treat dry eyes for some time now, and I’m thinking that’s pretty silly when I could use the real deal for free. I’m not sure how to turn that faucet on, but I plan to pay more attention to the natural emotions of joy and sadness and ditch the macho motto that says real men don’t cry. To paraphrase a Lesley Gore song from my youth, “It’s my life and I’ll cry if I want to.”
Remember the shortest verse in the Bible says, “Jesus wept,” because he knew we are part of a loving God who is so close to us in times of great joy and sorrow that God tastes the salt of our tears.
Peacefully Harsh 