TEARS

Tears, those salty messes that stream from your eyes. Sometimes, they're hot from anger, other times cool from joy. Gently flowing, heavily streaming, dripping from your eyes, backed by emotion, backed by no feelings. Tears of pain, tears of fear, tears of joy, tears of confusion, tears of anger, tears of repentence, tears of frustration, tears of sadness, tears of happiness. So many tears, so many reasons for them. Nobody gets through life without them.

I'm a pretty emotional person. I cry over a multitude of things. I remember crying over the old Lassie shows on WGN. I cried everytime Soupy Sales got a pie in the face, I cried when a loved one died, I cried when people were arguing, I cried for so many things that if my family had been smart, they'd have bought stock in Kleenex or Puffs.

I've cried when the Cubs won, more often when they've lost, I cry over change, good and bad, I cry for joy, I cry out of confusion, I cry in repentence, I cry out of gratefulness, I cry out of fear, I cry out of frustration (many times), I cry out of lonliness, I cry out of uncertainty, I just plain cry.

I've noticed through the years that my tears are different depending on the type of cry I am having. Sometimes streaming from the inner corners of my eyes, sometimes from the outer corners and still other times overflowing right over the middle. Sometimes hot, sometimes cool, sometimes stinging my eyes, other times cleansing them. Sometimes I've cried so hard I can't breath, other times I've quietly cried myself to sleep. I've cried when things haven't gone my way, I've cried when they do. I've cried when surprised and cried when fully expecting. I've cried for love and I've cried for hate. I've cried at injustices in the world and I've cried as one person stood up to an injustice and made a sliver of a difference. I've cried over my own pain, I've cried over others.

I've cried because I've fought with a friend and said things I shouldn't, I've cried because I didn't say things that I should have. I've cried because I've been happy to have that friend in my life, I've cried because they no longer are. Sometimes I've just cried because my contacts are dry or because of allergies.

I've cried out of pride, I've cried out of shame, I've cried for absolutely no good reason. I don't know why I cry so easily, it's just raw emotion and I rarely have control over it. I'm not even sure what tears accomplish. I'm sure there is some scientific answer to explain it all.

One thing I do know is that the day is coming when Jesus will dry all my tears and wipe them from my face. The Bible says so in Isaiah 25:8. I cry when I read that. It means my tears have not gone unnoticed, even as I've hidden in the dark recesses of my life. His promise is that I will cry no more and my tears will be turned to joy. I look forward to that day, as I sit here with tears streaming down my cheeks. Yep, they're salty ones. Jesus must have one huge tub of popcorn that will need so much salt from all the tears he will be collecting.

Today I cried tears of frustration and fear. Tomorrow I hope to cry tears of contentment and joy. That's just it, you never know when or when those little droplets will well up in your eyes and spill over. But you can rest assured that Jesus is keeping track.

Go ahead, have a good cry and soon you'll be so exhausted from crying that your mouth will naturally curl up and you'll show some of your teeth. If you've worked it right, there may even be a sparkle in your eye. Tears have their purpose and for the most part, we really don't know why. It's ok though. Jesus will be there.