It's Okay to Cry - Jesus did!

Last evening, our little grandson was at our house to visit.  He just started walking a couple of months ago, so now he's into everything and at a dead run.

As usual, he was hamming it up with a pair of old sunglasses, striking poses with that crinkled up nose and have-cocked smile; the glasses bigger than his whole little head. 

It wasn't long he was off on a mad dash across the room, tugging on the glasses as he went.  All of sudden, he poked himself in the eye with the ear piece.  Oh!  He started to whimper, but then as my son always does, he grabbed the baby and started tickling him to distract from the pain.

This morning as I was having my quiet time, I thought of that moment.  How often do we try to mask the emotion we're feeling?  We've all heard someone say at one point or another, "Big boys don't cry," or "You're such a softy."  But, is a good cry when we're hurting or a show of emotion a bad thing?  Does it mean we are any less of a person or that we're weak?

I don't think so.  As we turn to the shortest verse in the Bible - John 11:35, we see the words, "Jesus wept."  Picture it.  Jesus - Creator of the universe, Savior of all mankind wept, displaying actual real, raw emotion.  Was He weak, or just experiencing a time of deep sadness and pain?

In this instance, Jesus' dear friend, Lazarus, had died and his sisters, Mary and Martha, had met Him at the gate with the bad news.  His love for this family and seeing them in distress, stirred His heart to express such emotion.  Jesus, too, felt the sting of death, realizing that it was because of man's sin which had brought it into existence. 

Dear one, I don' know what you are going through today.  I can't understand some of the hurts you may be facing, but I do know that we have a God who not only cares for us, but weeps with us when we hurt.

There's an old hymn that says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace." 

Is it okay to cry?  Yes, I'm sure of it.  Jesus did, and the Bible says that He saves every one of our tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). 

Take comfort my friend,
Kristi