If Tears Solved Problems

I don't know about you, but I'm known to cry on a fair number of occasions. From silent tears rolling down my cheeks in a movie theater to weeping uncontrollably in an airport to shaking sobs in a worship service. When I teach about the topics closest to my heart, it's hard to keep my voice from cracking. I come by it naturally--my mom and sisters, like me, can hardly talk about anything they're passionate about without getting red-faced and choked up.

Some seasons of life have more weeping than others. If the problems faced by us and those we care about could be solved by the quantity of tears shed--we'd have no problems left. Sometimes the things that happen in life are just plain bad. There's no justifying it. I don't believe that every terrible thing that happens is somehow God's perfect will--which means that there's no comfort in tragedy. Someone you love dies. A person in power makes an unjust decision that will affect the lives of those you love. You hear that someone you know is struggling desperately just to survive. A truly good man is let go from his job for no good reason. You long for something--a spouse, a child--and the longing goes unfulfilled. Great tragedy occurs in the world and you can do nothing but weep at the destruction left behind.

A photo posted by Rachel G (@randomlyrachels) on Jun 9, 2016 at 12:18am PDT

Tears don't solve anything. They're seen as a sign of weakness--sometimes of specifically feminine weakness. Action would seem to be a more effective option, although there are situations when we've exhausted any action that is possible to us. Sometimes all that remains are tears.

Is it possible to cry about the same situation day after day? To be just as sad about a broken situation months after you've accepted the reality of the situation? Of course it is. I've done it. It might seem more logical to cry about it once and get all the sadness over with, but there are some problems which hurt us so deeply, sadness which touches us to our very core, and those are the situations that inspire the repetitive sessions of daily crying.

I am not ashamed of my tears. I have no qualms about being in public with a red nose and swollen eyes if the situation has called for it. I don't think that weeping ought to be seen as shameful or embarrassing. Sometimes life stuff is heart-breaking, and we can do nothing but allow the heart to break.

The pragmatist in me doesn't see the practicality of tears. If the situation can't be helped, shouldn't we be content to say "I've done all I can"? But no--we cry over problems that we'll never be able to fix, problems that will never be solved in this unjust world. At some point, we have to stop. We can't always wallow in sorrow and in tears. We'll never get anything done if we do. But there is a place for weeping. There must be some value in the shared pain of crying with those we love. I believe that God sees our tears, that He knows why we cry, that He wants his people to weep in the face of injustice.

Tears are a part of this life, but I'm glad to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they won't have any place in the next.