Day 25: Tears

Psalm 126:5-6

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

"You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you've never seen before. A pair of somebody's old shoes can do it. Almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention.

They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go to next."

This description of tears comes from Frederick Buchner's book Listening to Your Life.

This week tears surprised me: when saying good-bye to tried and true ministry colleagues, at the ending of the sports-drama (movie) Race, and while singing happy birthday to my 94 year old former babysitter.

Wise counsel says tears are part of salvation. May tears always be welcome among us.

How is God speaking to you this Lent through tears?