Faith does not forbid tears. It knows them well. The Psalmist wept, Jeremiah wept, Christ Himself wept at the tomb of his friend. This sonnet honors those tears, and the God who receives them without embarrassment or hurry.
The Sonnet
They said the faithful should not weep so much, Should hold their sorrows quiet and refined, Should not let grief have any real touch, Should keep the tender wounds within the mind. But this is not the wisdom of the true. The Psalmist wept, the prophet tore his hair, The Christ Himself wept openly, in view Of those who could not carry that despair. So I will let the tears come when they come, And not disguise them for the passing eye, For grief is not a failure of the sum Of faith, but faith made honest under sky. The God who catches every tear that falls Does not require I hide them from His halls.
Reflection
There is a version of piety that treats tears as failure, as though the truly faithful person should have moved past grief into some permanent serenity. Scripture does not know this piety. The Bible is a book full of weeping people, and God consistently meets them in their weeping without asking them to stop first.
Christ wept at the tomb of Lazarus even though He knew He was about to raise him. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept in Gethsemane. If the Lord of glory could weep openly, we do not need to hide our tears. They are not evidence that our faith has failed. They are, often, evidence that we have loved.
If you have wept lately, know that your tears are not embarrassments before God. They are received, honored, remembered. The One who counts the stars also counts what falls from the eyes of the faithful.
