February 24, 2011

Have you ever thought about talking to your tears? No, I mean seriously. Talking to those salty drops that fall on your cheeks every so often? Before you completely dismiss this blog as a weird-Emily-is-having-one-of-those-days... I want you to stay with me here! I am a girl and I cry quite often. There, I said it. I weep over the little things, like tiny cute as can be babies, rainbows after a thunderstorm, or old couples walking down the grocery store aisle hand in hand. I cry over life's big things, like broken hearts, deaths, tragedies and broken relationships. I kind of expect that the latter would be relate-able to more people. Recently I have been trying to get down to the root of the problem- why do I cry? What is it that is tugging at my heart? Am I glorifying God through my tears? Woah hold on wait a second. We were each placed on this earth with a mission to glorify God, am I right? That is our primary goal on this earth, our time here is so short! So if I am looking at the whole spectrum on things from God's point of view, my tears need to glorify Him. That said, even when I am at my lowest, at a point of complete and utter confusion with life, at a point where I can't see anything clearly through my tears, God still demands glory. And He has every right to! Take a look at Psalm 126:5-6:

May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy!
He that goes forth weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

---- so basically, sowing is simply the work that has to be done even when there are things in life that make us cry. The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter we must get out in the field and sow the seed whether we are crying or not. Hmm, kind of rough huh? But I really think that there is a lot to learn from this Psalm. It teaches us that there is work to be done no matter what. Have you taken a look at statistics lately about how many people starve to death each day? Or how about how many orphans there are. Or maybe even how many lost people that are dying and going to hell on a daily basis! Lets not be so quick to forget that Hell is real, people! There is work on this earth to be done whether I am up for it or not, whether I am emotionally stable or completely in stable with my emotions. John Piper says it best:
"So here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears: ‘Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, dinner to be made, small group to go to). I know you will wet my face several times today, but I have work to do and you will just have to go with me. I intend to take the bag of seeds and sow. If you come along then you will just have to wet the rows. Then say, on the basis of God’s word, ‘Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe (I do not yet see it or feel it fully)—I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And your tears will be turned to joy.”


1 comment:

let me know what you think! :)