Joyful Tears

Last week one of my friends told me something I found interesting. He told me about the Puritans used to pray a prayer that God would give them tears. They would pray for God to give them tears over their own brokenness and the brokenness of others. They did not count tears as a bad thing, as a show of weakness or frailty. They saw beauty in tears and how they brought a vulnerability that drew them closer to God and drew them closer to other people as well.

I thought again of tears when reading today's devotional. "To grow faith requires immense pressure". For me, the times when I've noticed the most growth in my self have been the times full of tears and laughter. Growth is most certainly painful. Usually during the process I feel more like I am failing than growing that I am stuck in a perpetual realm of hurt and tears. But God is so present during those times, so intimately close. Joyful laughter flows just as frequently as the tears as God reminds us that growth is for our best and that He is always looking after us.

There is something intoxicating about the pain of growth, something that brings us back to places like Sonshine, something that brings us back to the places that stretch and challenge us to grow and not be satisfied with a stagnant relationship with our Father. So now I am praying for tears, that God would grow me. I hope that I will live a life not of comfort but of commitment to a God that lovingly grows us with tears and laughter.