Tears Shed in Sorrow Fall From the Heart

“Tears shed in sorrow fall from the heart.”

— Mary-Ann Hay

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Some tears are heart-laden, some are not. Tears that are heart-laden are healing tears, yet not all tears are healing tears. Those tears taken to God, those prayerful tears, whether by anguish or despair – sorrowful tears – are of eternal value, in the realm of the world and all dimensions-of-good beyond.

Some tears, indeed the vast majority of tears, are perhaps more from bitterness and pride and resentment; these do not come from the heart, unless they fall from a hardened heart. They may come from a stubborn mind.

In the breadth of an article like this I speak of the heart as the seat of our intentions – our life force – the very substance of our perseverance. I speak not of the flesh weakness of the heart or of a heart of stone.

Tears shed in sorrow fall from the heart that is connected to the Presence of God. Such a heart is fully vested to faith that strides forward despite the bleak outlook. Such a heart believes more in the unseen than in the seen. Such a heart refuses to give up and pours out tears of truth in the hope of healing. And God will give us a foretaste of that healing as we recover from our sodden bout.

Tears shed in sorrow fall from a heart indistinguishable from the Presence of God within.

Such precipitation of the soul is productive. It’s not ‘poor me, poor me, poor me... pour me another drink’; it is the ability to surrender whatever we have in our hearts, through the modulation of tears, for God to mould and to use to his glory. For, it will be to God’s glory when we sob because we have abided faithfully in our irrepressible, unrelenting truth.

If we are prepared to be vulnerable in our weakness before God we will most certainly experience his grace. But if we are proud and refuse to learn we will waste our emotions and only become exhausted by it all. We can see that suffering well is actually quite an easy choice.

If we can allow God to humble us, God will exalt us in his own way and time. But if we disallow God to work, we stand in our own way, and no good blessing can be received.

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When tears fall from the heart surrendered to God sorrow is ameliorated, and we truly experience the Presence of the Lord in our plight.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.