“Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are evil.”
People in general are uncomfortable with crying. We’ll tolerate it at a tender moment in a movie, in church services (at appropriate places) and at weddings and funerals. But we feel embarrassed to weep in public, and we feel embarrassed when other people do it. The immediate response when anyone starts crying is to “Cheer them up,” as if tears were some awful disease that needed immediate cure.
I cry often and easily, as anyone who knows me could confirm. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It signals a tenderness of heart, an openness that allows me to feel joy deeply. I cry just as easily at a moss-covered tree as I do at a dead starling. Mourning is a part of living in a fallen world, but so is rejoicing.
A quote from C.S. Lewis comes to mind. In The Last Battle, the King of Narnia witnesses the end of his world. He is essentially in heaven at this point, yet he says this:
“Sirs,” said Tirian. “The ladies do well to weep. See, I do so myself. I have seen my mother’s death. What world but Narnia have I ever known? It were no virtue, but great discourtesy, if we did not mourn.”
Some people say there will be no tears in Heaven, but Revelation says that our tears will be wiped away, not nonexistent. This is great comfort to me. Something as vulnerable, as deep and as beautiful as weeping must be everlasting.
~Lisa Shafter
No comments:
Post a Comment