Every Tear You Cry

A post laden with frustration last night I see. I must have been high. Sometimes one can write things carelessly, meaninglessly, without thought in the world who one might be hurting. But... I'll leave it there so that this blog looks a little more natural. Erasing all your painful conversations with God isn't always a smart thing to do. One day, I'll look back and I'll smile at the silliness of it all.

I'm beginning to read other translations of the Bible. The NIV Bible is very useful, commonly quoted with endless revelations. Nonetheless, I'm beginning to love The Message Bible, a contemporary translation by Eugene Peterson. He's a poet, a writer and a linguist, and I'm a sucker for poetry. Using Psalms 56:8, let me show you why.

NIV:
Record my lament;
list my tears on your scroll
are they not in your record?

CEV (Contemporary English Version, a really cool one too):
You have kept record
of my days of wandering.
You have stored my tears
in your bottle
and counted each of them.

The Message:
You've kept track of my every toss and turn
through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
each ache written in your book.

Beautiful translations huh? The NIV's translation suddenly seems so cold, so ordinary, not bringing out the emotional essence that God's Word contains. Imagine that. A God who keeps a record of every tear you've cried. It may be in a little bottle, to be released as fireworks the moment you walk through the Pearly Gates. Or it may be on the Hall of Fame, forever engraved in an eternity where anyone can take their time to understand how you felt when the tears were shed.

I don't think God differentiates whether we wept for a good reason or not. There are times when I've shed tears over things or people I know I shouldn't, cried my eyes out in fear of being alone in this world, trace the teardrops in the bathroom mirror just so I know what I look like when I'm in pain. Not every tear is glorifying to Him. Some of my tears come in total disbelief at what He had just crushed, some of them come when He asks me to do something against my pride, some of them come when He makes me feel inadequate just so I get it in my thick skull that I can't fight this world alone.

Yes, I'm sure He keeps every tear you've cried too. Even if they are silly ones. The questions that I have now are these: Do we realize that when we cry in our beds, He is always there, watching and hurting with us too? If you know what that is like, have you ever reached out, hold His face and collect His tears even as He is doing yours?



Immature love says: I love you because I need you. Mature love says: I need you because I love you. -Erich Fromm