There are so many kinds of tears.  There are tears of sadness, tears of joy, tears of physical pain, tears of our heart’s pain, tears of loss, tears of grief.  There are tears of repentance, of relief, of loneliness, of despair;  tears of hurt or of anger or of care.  That’s a lot of tears over a lifetime and I imagine any one of us would think that for God to be mindful of our tears, even to the point of collecting them and saving them, would be incomprehensible to us.

And yet,  Psalm 56:8 says, “You have seen me tossing and turning through the night.  You have collected all my tears and preserved them in Your bottle!  You have recorded every one in Your book.”  Now that’s a lot of tears and I would guess each of us would feel that our own tears over our lifetime would fill quite a few bottles and are way too numerous for anyone to keep track of.  And then there are everyone else’s tears being saved as well, the tears of those from every tribe, every nation, every tongue and every people from every age.

But we belong to an infinite God who cares for us with unlimited compassion.  So much so that He not only sees our tears, He saves them.  Good thing there’s no shortage of storage space in heaven.  I wonder what all our tears will look like when we see them again?  Pain transformed into something beautiful?  Beauty from ashes, from heartache?

Do they look different, all these tears?  collected over our earthly years.  do they each have a different hue?  does He collect the tears no one can view?  the One Who hears and saves our silent cries, holds even the tears not from our eyes.  our inside tears that no one shares, He sees and saves each one with care.

will they decorate heaven, these tears of ours?  shining brightly in crystal jars, pain turned to prisms of dazzling light, tears cried in the dark now shining bright.

no tears are unseen, no tear unknown, all in eternity find their home.

tears for myself, my tears for others, all in heaven with their own special color. tears I cried in prayer for you, yours for me will be there too.

tears for friends, tears for foes, tears for those I’ll never know, tears for those I have not met;  our tears are prayers without the words, but I know my God has heard.

tears of thanksgiving, tears of praise, let me cry these tears all of my days. knowing all the tears I’ve cried alone, one day all will see and share God’s glory shown, as all tears from all time adorn His  throne.

Prayer brings us to tears and tears are our prayers.  What a comfort to know that my tears and prayers do not go unnoticed, unheeded nor unheard.  Rather they are so cherished by my Heavenly Father that He preserves them for eternity.

” And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  (Revelation 21:4)

until then,  sincerely,        Grace Day