Wiley’s Musings - Life Through Tears

Some of the most important moments in my life were when my father let me see his hurt - some of which I caused. Dad never confused strength with macho stoicism. He knew that our strength is often best revealed in what brings our tears: a son insisting on going into dangerous territory in pursuit of a mission that Dad believed was mistaken, a wife hospitalized, a daughter married, a neighbor injured, a job lost, a friend gone back to the bottle. The list is long. Not the tears of manipulation; the tears of honest pain and real joy.

The shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most significant is “Jesus wept.” Paul in Romans commands us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.”

Fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, for whom and what do you cry?

Are you strong enough to let your children share your sorrow, your hurt, your fear, your joy? Would you be glad if your children cry about the same things you do? With the people you do? In the way you do?

Life is an amazing journey. Most of us learn to read the roadmap, not from books, but from those we love and respect. Thanks be to God for those who are strong enough to share honest feelings with those they know and love. Who teach them the difference between real feelings and objective reality. Who show them how to face life with integrity, resolve, and joy by living with them through the pain.

Thanks be to God who brings us life through the tears.

-Wiley
Rev. Wiley Cooper is Pastor Emeritus at Mars Hill United Methodist Church.