“Don’t cry.”
Lord, don’t let those words pass my lips
and plug up a needed release
of pressure through tears
to avoid explosion.
Something inside
wants to be
expressed,
released,
unshackled.

Strong emotions,
when hidden deep inside,
inflate over time
and shoot to the surface
like a submerged beach ball
surges,
burgeons,
bursts forth.

Let me be okay with tears,
an inbuilt, relief mechanism,
as they flow freely to do their work.
Let crying and tears be, to me,
as the whistle of a teapot,
to release the pressure,
acknowledge the hurt,
mourn the loss.

Lord, let me be a safe place,
a hermit’s cave, a hidden quietness,
where another can unfetter feelings
and let go with a
tear-flowing,
snot-producing,
hiccuping bawl.

Sorrow and joy, fear and grit,
frustration and anger, love and hate,
intensify and swell when contained
and deny the truths we live with
until a gift of tears,
like breaking waters of the womb,
begins a new birth.

by Kathleen Evenhouse

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I used to think tears were a sign of weakness. See, I played rough and tumble games with my brothers and the boys in our neighborhood as I grew up. If I got hurt, I dusted myself off, hid any tears, and jumped right back in. Because, everyone knows, crybabies don’t get to play. I learned some valuable lessons about pushing the edges of achievement that way, but I had to unlearn the one about crying:

Let tears wash over you. Your body is giving you an important signal, “Enough already.” Without the space a good cry brings, you won’t have room for the next step to operate. Tears acknowledge that pressure and stress are present. If you don’t let go of your need for control and turn your strong feelings over to God, you will not experience the peace that He has waiting for you. And this is not a one-time thing. Crying your heart out is often a part of the process of rebirth in you. Let go, and let God transform.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(John 3:3, ESV)