The Language of Tears By Mark Loughridge for Church Leaders
I came across a set of photographs of tears taken using a microscope. They are fascinating to look at; vastly different in their detail and patterns, like looking down at changing landscapes from an aeroplane.
The photographer, Rose-Lynn Fisher, has pictures of tears from all sorts of circumstances: tears of happiness, grief, pain, reminiscing, tears caused by irritation or for lubrication, and many other sorts—each like a unique work of art. Some are jagged and angular, some are densely detailed, like an aerial view of the Amazon rainforest. Other pictures are sparse in their detail, yet others square and block-like like a city plan. I love how she describes them as “aerial views of emotion terrain.”
Our tears are mostly salt water but contain a variety of substances—including enzymes, oils, antibodies, hormones and even natural painkillers the body releases under stress. Each of these seems to impact the detail. (Although another photographer seems to think these additives are less of a factor.)
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
All this came to mind because I was preaching last Sunday on Psalm 6. The songwriter is at the end of his tether, he says, “I flood my bed with weeping…my eyes grow weak with sorrow”. Perhaps you know that feeling.
But what really struck me was what he said next: “The Lord has heard the sound of my weeping”
The Hebrew language is picturesque. The word translated ‘sound’ also means ‘voice’—the Lord heard the voice of my weeping. I think there is a rich tenderness to that. It’s as if he’s saying, “God is fluent in the language of your tears.” They speak to him—when words won’t come. Of course, as God, he knows all things instantly, but there is something richer, closer, more personal about this way of putting it. And perhaps we need reminding of that.
