the ways we weep

Jesus wept.

I wept
Tears of joy!
TEARS OF FRUSTRATION
or did I? Maybe I wanted to...

Once upon a time...
Two second years, who were being nice and telling a young innocent bright eyes first year back in the month of August said there would be four times at least that she would cry during her first year.
"I'm not a crier," she said.
"Neither are we," replied the wiser ones.
The newby thanked them for their perspective while inside she scoffed at their inability to hold up to the pressure. I'm tougher than they she told herself.

HA!

I can get this out, hopefully in understandable words and without the fear of shedding a tear in the process only b/c I am filled with the peace that passes all understanding. I have this inexplicable feeling of no anxiety, no worries, no stress and it shouldn't be that way...only one final down and four to go; I should definitely not feel this way. Thanks God. Thanks friends who threw up a few prayers, who fight for me before the Father. Thanks Jesus for expressing what I always cannot...

Jesus wept.

Why is it so hard to shed the tears in public? It seems to be acceptable to get so emotionally attached to fictitious characters on ones favorite tv show that reserves one whole hour of your life once a week...
It is okay to feel their hurts and pains and let the water works turn on, but oh shudder the thought that you might give into the natural response while, oh I don't know, just sharing with another person about life.
That's messed up.

Jesus wept.

I keep coming back to that...the shortest verse in the Bible, the one almost every good church going middle schooler or high schooler can spit out on Bible trivia as the shortest verse. John 11:35.
Funny how God is in the midst of all things here on earth...b/c I just happened to open a book I'd been reading but hadn't found the time for weeks and yesterday after deciding to get a little read in the part that's next is about...yep...Christ's travail...John 11:33-44
"...the tears Christ shed were not merely tears of sympathy, but of indignation and the stirrings of His spirit."
whew...think on that one. So, my spirit could be so stirred that I want to cry...heck ya. When no words come, when the heart is so heavy that words cannot express it, sure. Why does it often want to come out as tears? I don't know, God made us like that. It all goes back to the sympathetic response and the post-ganglionic branch of CN VII that enters the orbit and runs along with a branch of CN V2...duh...and the hormones that are released when we cry...yeah, scientists can know it, but can they give into it?
Can I so humble myself to let Christ have his way in my and just praise him through the tears no matter if they are tears of joy, thanksgiving, sorrow, anxiety...amazing how Christ made the body to take care of itself.
Need to relieve some stress? Need to be understood? Need to just "be a girl"? (yeah, sometimes that's needed) Cry and fall asleep in your Savior's arms, a deep much needed sleep that refreshes down to the soul...His arms are big and strong and water resistant:)

Jesus wept.
The man whose tears held more knowledge and sorrow for sins than we will feel in a lifetime.
The living breathing PEACE on earth.
The Christ, Immanuel, the embodiment of perfection.
He wept.
Thank you Jesus for your example to me.