THE LANGUAGE OF TEARS

Have you ever been in that place where you are so burdened that you cannot even express it in words? That point where you want to explain, but all that comes instead is tears, hot, unstoppable? Of course only those who still have their ‘crying license’ can relate. You are probably wondering what a crying license is. Just hang on, we would get to that.
 
You see there was a Wednesday in November, 2016 when I was greatly burdened and I remember sprawling myself on my bed ready to bare out my heart before the Lord but I could not –at least not in words. All I could do was cry and groan intermittently. But trust me, I stood up from that place with the burden lifted. I was sure I had communicated heaven with the language of tears. Now recounting that experience, two scriptures come to mind. Romans 8: 26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
 
And the second one is going to be the central text for this article. Psalm 56: 8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”
 
So let’s look a little more closely at the last bit of that verse.
 
You have collected all my tears in your bottle
 
Wow! God actually saves tears in bottles. One thing I like about the 2017 produced hit gospel movie The Shack, is that the character Sarayu which represented the Holy Spirit had a bottle where she collected tears and she said it was for healing. Speaking of healing… Psychologically, tears are therapeutic. They aid healing, hastening the process. Personally, I find it cool that God cares about those rivulets that roll off my sullen face enough to save them in a bottle. It means one thing: your tears, my tears, are definitely not useless, else God would not be saving them, else Jesus would not have cried, else a whole verse of the Bible would not have been dedicated to his tears.
 
Now this is where it gets interesting.
 
You have recorded each one in your book.
 
Having collected his tears in his bottle, David says the Lord went on to record each one of the tears in his book. You sure don’t think God dropped the tears on the pages of his book, do you? He recorded what the tears encoded. He transcribed the tears into his book. This makes me see tears as a language only God can decode.
 
When burdened with ineffable joy, pain, grief, let the waters roll especially in the place of prayer. You are communicating. Channel your tears to the right place, the place of prayer, to God who understands it. The tears can do more than earn you man’s pity. I’ve come to a point in my life where I can hardly ever cry anywhere asides the place of prayer and even when I feel the need to cry, I channel it into prayers. I won’t go crying to mummy, or a friend. Why? Cos they would not understand, only God can.
 
Now, speaking of crying license. I hope we see how much disservice and harm the society does to our male folks, by bullishly seizing their ‘crying license’ by making them believe, shedding tears makes them less than they should be. What is that line again? Real men don’t cry. And it gets appalling when it’s spewed in circles of believers. It makes me wonder who a real man really is. Because judging by that line, Jesus is not a real man, neither is David. And this robs men a lot more than they discover at times. The average man has learned one art very well, the art of pretence. They fear to feel; fear to feel pain, to feel grieved, to feel vulnerable, to feel love or feel the need to have a confidant. And when they feel any of those, they have to pretend it’s not there because what the society has taught is that men are made of steel. All these repressed emotions, are under a lot of the turbulence within, I know it sounds mawkish but it is true. There is actually a school of thought, backed with research that says that men are even more emotional than women but they learn very well to bottle up.
 
Of course, we don’t want a man whose emotions are all over the place. My point is, at least before God free your tears, don’t bottle them up, God wants to do that for you, he wants to put those tears in his bottle.
 

Speak your tears
Where they can be heard
Before God.

 
 
Now, I have news. Great news.
 
Since, Leave to Cleave, an eleven episode fiction series that was run on this blog last year, we have not had any actual fiction series. But that is about to change!
 
Drum roll please.
 
Starting on the 25th of July, 2018, episodes of a whole new fiction series would be gracing your screens on this blog. The series is titled DOWN. Down promises to be a lovely, inspiring and educative rollercoaster.
 

Life promises us a bath in a fancy Jacuzzi
It only doesn’t tell us
The Jacuzzi is filled with painful pebbles.

 
A story of love, pain, unexpected turns and hope. You would love it.
 
Here are the flyers. Please share.

What do we now have to do before the 25th? Spread the word! The harsh tag is #CFCDown. Let’s make everywhere seethe with anticipation. Keep your fingers crossed. Andrew Okwanze and his guys are getting prepped to meet you.