When I saw this painting – finished, unique, complete houses lifted up out of the rubble – my eyes filled unexpectedly. The concept is too good, the visual stays with me. I wipe a rogue tear and wonder where it comes from.
This morning, I read a post Amber wrote about being overcome with her life gifts. It is lovely, as her posts always are. But when she says that her husband baptized their son and called him brother as he lowered him into the water, I baptize you, Isaac, my son and my brother. A father, loving his son. It is that word, brother. That’s what brings the tears. This time they don’t stop.
In line to board the airplane, I hear a man behind me say, “Now remember, it’s just up and down. And don’t forget to get down on the floor with the kids. Get down on their level and play with them. Alright, now it’s just up and down from here.” I can’t help but turn to look, the scruff in his voice not matching the gentle words he speaks. She smiles and nods okay several times, and I know she has some type of disability, though I can’t place it. He isn’t boarding the plane, must have special permission to escort her. She looks excited, like this is all very new for her, like perhaps she’s never done anything alone, ever. The man (her brother?) looks hesitant to let her go. But he assures her it’s just up and down from here, as if perhaps they’ve had conversations about this trip for a long time before now. And he is concerned for her. And I am surprised by the sting in my eyes. He loves her.
I read these lines in a book:
“Final words are hard to hear when you know for certain they are indeed final. And I knew for certain. Four anniversaries had come and gone while I remained in this nowhere place. Even the crickets were quiet.”
Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry
… and even though it’s fiction, it isn’t really. I think of my mother-in-law who lost her husband just a few months ago. My eyes sting.
I was interviewed yesterday by the lovely Moira Brown and things are going well and honest, and then she reads the dedication of my book out loud, For John, who lives and breathes the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I think I hide it well, and I don’t think you can tell, but hearing his name and knowing the mystery brings hot, quick tears to the surface, right there on live TV.
So what? Why does it matter what makes you cry or tear up? Maybe it just means you’re overly emotional, sappy, too sensitive. Maybe. Or maybe our tears are tiny messengers, secret keepers of the most vulnerable kind, sent to deliver a most important message – Here is where your heart beats strong. Here is a hint to your design. Here is a gift from your inner life, sent to remind you those things that make you come alive.
Change in the world comes when we acknowledge what moves us and why. When we don’t try to ignore the art and the desire, rather listen to it and live fully in it. So what are some things for you? What makes you tear up?
Read 31 Days to Change the World from the beginning and click here to get Chatting at the Sky delivered to your inbox for free.
Weddings. Mothers giving birth. Love. My two baby nieces who were born with Down Syndrome over the summer. The last chapter of The Last Battle in the Chronicles of Narnia. I finished it weeks ago and I’m still weepy. Beauty and redemption make me cry.
Thanks, Emily. Enjoying the 31 Days, but so impatient to hear the next part.
I recently downloaded “When Crickets Cry” and now I know why I haven’t started it yet ….. Because it will make me cry too.
Thanks again!
Candy
*smile*
the next part = tomorrow, and tomorrow’s tomorrow, and tomorrow’s ………
I love this post….makes me cry
I don’t think I’ve thought seriously about what things bring tears and connecting that with calling and purpose, but I think you’re spot on.
I cry when I sing about the cross, Christ’s perfection, His love and provision. I cry sometimes at night when my husband and I have had a great day together and I just can’t believe Christ would give me such a gift. I cry when I think about my children growing up…not because I don’t want them to, but because I love having them here so so much. I cry when I hear about abortions or mommies and babies in tough places like the horn of Africa. Goodness, tears are such a good pointer to what’s important for me. Thank you, Emily, for this great post!
“secret keepers of the most vulnerable kind…”
oh emily. why don’t I cry? and why does this make me want to?
Oh this one really hit a nerve…hit home…whatever you wanna call it!! I CAN SOO RELATE. I just read a post (and i kick myself because i didnt save the blog and i cannot remember who she is) but I read this post and had a knot in my throat the entire time trying to fight back tears so no one would think I was nuts. This woman, on her 38 birthday asked for random acts of kindness to be given instead of gifts, and she was going to give out 38 herself. She listed them all and then she listed the overwhelming amount of random acts completed by her friends and family and even people she barely knew. AND after I finished reading and sat there trying to NOT CRY , I realized that anytime I see or read this type of thing i get that exact same knot in my throat. The act of BEING HUMAN, helping a fellow human being in need, or going out of the way to be kind or do something for someone. Making a stranger smile.
that it what makes me cry.
thanks for this post Emily!!!!
xoxo Jess
Emily, I really appreciate this post; you really made me think. Until now, I would have said I was just being sappy when tears come to my eyes or I cry for “no reason”. But I see now that those tears come from the place where I am real, truly alive. I really want to pay attention to those tears now.
And this post spoke to me in another way. In that painting at the top of the page, you saw life, hope, being lifted out of the ruble. Know what I saw? I saw the opposite – beautiful houses crashing to the ground. Their strings had been cut and they fell. I knew I had a tendency to a pessimist, but where does/did that come from? I don’t want to see hopes dashed; I want to see new life rising up. Thanks for the eye openers this morning. Many blessings!
Wow wow wow. My word, girl. You’ve done it this time.
The song, “I will be here,” by Steven Curtis Chapman.
The song, “Everything I do, I do for you,” by Bryan Adams.
Stories of children with cancer.
Stories of children hurt or dying or gone.
Stories of reconciliation.
Other people having relationships with sisters.
Hearing girls call their father “Daddy”.
The encouragement from my mother.
Every. Time. my boy calls me “Momma”.
Dreams realized.
You have me thinking about this today, Emily. And I so much agree that these sentiments are indications of how our heart was deliberately and specifically crafted; they say so much, like a whisper they stay forever a part of our soul.
oh … just about anything! my kids giggle when we watch movies and anytime something gets sad, happy, scary, meaningful, funny or heartfelt, they lean over to check if I’m crying. and I usually am.
thanks for helping me to see that as a beautiful thing! 
What makes me cry is passion. In many forms. The moment when singing becomes worship. The second the basketball leaves your fingertips and time slows and everyone holds their breath waiting to see if God would see fit to place it in the hoop. It is a moon that you can’t get enough of, not wanting to close your eyes because somehow it feels as if it were placed in the dark sky just for you. It is the moment when you go further when you know you can’t but you know God can. It is words spoken or written that slice your heart right open because they are so true, so real, so passionate. Your words do that do me, Emily. Keep writing!
Love it. Stories of fathers and sons tend to break me up. To my chagrin, the movie REAL STEEL (yes, a robot movie) did this to me the other night.
The old joke in my family is that my late grandfather (who passed in March, two weeks after my son was born, at the age of 94) was so very sentimental and emotional. Anytime the family did something together, something special, there he’d go. And he didn’t just tear up. He cried. He cried at my piano recitals. He cried at my dad’s ordination. He cried when my uncle talked about his ministry. He cried when us cousins played our instruments together, or during prayer.
I would be talking with my mom on the phone, “Well, how did so-and-so go?”
“Oh, it was great,” she’d answer, then say matter-of-factly, “Grandpa cried.” That’s just how he was.
Music really, really got him. Spiritual music. He couldn’t make it through a hymn without crying. It’s taken be almost thirty years to realize it, but I inherited that from him. When my son was born, I wanted to sing to him, and I just couldn’t, because I would cry every time. We sing Sacred Harp, sometimes, and so many times I have to stop singing because I get choked up. “…But let me all Thy stamp receive, but let me all Thy words obey. Serve with a single heart and eye, and to Thy glory live or die.” I can’t even type it without getting teary…!
Stories of redemption, stories of loss mingled with hope, stories of every day people standing up for what’s right even when it seems like they shouldn’t, stories that strip things down to the essence of being human. These are the reasons that The Book Thief and The Help made me sob my eyes out like I haven’t in a long time.
Well, another one that has me thinking over my coffee! I tend to be weepy about a lot of things. Now I’m curious…
Wow! What a great post! Surely is making me think this morning! What makes me cry? I would have to agree with Karmen~ passion of any kind. When I’m watching a TV program and my eyes well up I have to stop and think about what just happened. Very often it is a baby being born~ that moment, right when parents meet baby face to face….I just can’t hold back the tears…ever. I cry when someone prays for me…always. It chokes me up when others bring me to the throneroom of God. And I inevitably cry when I talk about my kids~ their struggles, their fears, my concerns for them, their gifts and passions~ it all makes my eyes wet with joy and wonderment.
oh, “you make beautiful things….. out of the dust……”
He makes beautiful things….. out of us.” This song tears me up every time I hear it.
Amazing Grace, In the garden….. the ones I grew up singing and that were sung at my grandma’s funerals, babies being born, holding a new baby, weddings. The way my husband looks at me sometimes. Hearing of others loss, seeing people with empty eyes.
Passing the Compassion table laid out with sweet faces makes me tear up. Having my daughter tell how she showed the card of our newest Compassion child – her brother – to her class makes me tear up.
And *this* post makes me tear up. Hearing and seeing such talented artists {like you!} share their art always makes me tear up. Love you, Emily!
absolutely sublime. thank you for those wonderful words…a good thing to chew on today. i am not by nature a cryer but when i do i know i have been moved deeply.
daddy holding a child’s hand
abiding love extravagantly displayed
charles martin books
sweet prayers from a friend
The older I get the more I tear up–it’s ridiculous! Church, always. And when my girls spontaneously say, “I love you” to each other. That just gets me.
Oh Emily, I spent many years with my heart covered in shame all while trying to keep a smile on my face. (I finally broke a little free and wrote about it on my blog yesterday) And the thought of anyone else living with that feeling while there is an amazing God who redeems, it makes the tears flow.
And there are other things too – the mention of Africa, hearing a little boy call me grandma, hearing kids sing about Jesus – all of it makes the tears come.
You always make me think about things in a different way. It would have never, ever occurred to me that the things that make me cry are my passions. Thank you for that!
Thank your for this beautiful post.
I need to start thinking about this again…what makes me cry…I love seeing lives transformed, people healed, set free, and the way people give their lives others…
This, this was so good. I loved it all. The best read I’ve had in awhile.
Janelle
GraceTags
I’m unabashedly weepy. Ask my husband- I can turn the water works on. I used to be ashamed of this and then I read a definition of what compassion is- what the compassion that Christ felt was. It said that the compassion that Christ is recorded as having meant that he literally felt the pain of the other person. It was a word greater than empathy. He took on that hurt. When I read something, or hear something, or encounter someone who is hurting (or if it is me that is hurting) it just naturally comes out of my tear ducts!
I also cry at weird things. Something that is so achingly full of beauty that my response is to cry. Like I said I used to be ashamed of these things, but have since accepted it as part of me. A good part of me that wears empathy on her shoulder. I hope that it drives my heart and hands to words and works of love.
Thanks for this post and for reminding me that tears can reveal what is truly important to me and drive the heart of my life and writing.
<3
One of my favorites. I’m paying attention more than I have before with this post especially. While I knew you could pull off 31 days on this topic, I wondered *how* you’d do it. I’m loving the how. I told your sister today that she was an inspiration. I must say the same of you. You both inspire people to think differently than they did when they woke up that morning. Each and every morning it seems.
Happy Canada, friend. Can’t wait to have you back home.
It has taken me a lot of years to become comfortable with crying . . . and now I listen to it.
Beautiful post.
Fondly,
Glenda
I have been pushing through the “busyness” of these days and haven’t had the time to leave the comments I feel in my heart. But I am here reading and loving all of these posts Emily.
I am one of those who has a hard time crying on the surface even when my heart is touched. However, the older I get the more easily they come – unexpected most times, always welcome. You have said it well.
Emily, thanks so much for your continual special posts…I feel like i have a friend inside this computer and it is you. I am often sort of a serious type but am also very sappy and can cry quickly and maybe sometimes too often…things that make me cry…moving tv shows or movies like the ones i watched Sunday night about breast cancer, hearing or singing “It is Well with my Soul”, seeing a man cry, reading a very infrequent text from my daughter expressing gratitude for her parents (she’s 20), tears well as the plane leaves the runway and I sit in fear as it soars into the sky (i have only flown 3 times-don’t like it), and now as I am just amazed that there are folks out here in this bloggy world that can express and say things that mean so much to me and that I wish I had the ability to articulate. God Bless.
At the gym today a friend had her little girl who “warmed up” with us and pranced and smiled like only a two-year-old can. My eyes filled just talking to her, watching her joy. Little people speak directly to my heart.
“Here is where your heart beats strong. Here is a hint to your design. Here is a gift from your inner life, sent to remind you those things that make you come alive.”
Okay…THAT…made me cry! FOR REALS…even now as I type it!
When I listened to your promo clip 6 {or so?} months ago for your book, I cried, cause it spoke to my soul.
Like Donna above, I was moved by the Breast Cancer Awareness movie montages, which surprised me. But I hurt for the pain & loss of people.
This morning I cried listening to the song, “Come Home” by Meredith Andrews, written for her prodigal brother and I think of not only the prodigals I know, but the ones I don’t whose lives & hearts the Father cherishes.
And I realize in all of these, my heart is for broken people, but I have always know that, I think. However, I forgot in the past year or so because I was one of them – so broken, so scared, so lonely – still am a bit – but not my heart beats for those sorrows & losses & pains even more and I want to help somehow. I want to change the world…at least my world…whether it is dancing, singing, writing, speaking, counseling, coaching or all of the above….that is my heart.
Thank you for pushing me “out the door” to SEE in myself the dream that I had hidden and tucked away.
{HUGS}
Do you know that you have made me proud to become a freshly-minted crying girl? True story.
ps – I find goose bumps are an equal indicator, along with the tears.
so touched. this posts and the subsequent comments are keeping the tears in my eyes. I am going to print your post and share it with the ladies at bible study tonite. so powerful…
Oh wow, you touched a nerve with that one.
I, like Lisa, saw the house breaking up and smashing first too.
I avoid emotion, because it’s messy and makes me look ugly when I cry and because it’s catchy.
Because most times I can’t do anything or say anything to help, to ease the pain and make that person feel better.
I love your perspective and will use this as a nudge to listen to those small hints from my Designer. Because maybe, just maybe He wants me to be there, with the tissue and listen and pray. To be still and become all He has in mind for me. emotions, tears, snot and all.
Oh this part:
“Or maybe our tears are tiny messengers, secret keepers of the most vulnerable kind, sent to deliver a most important message – Here is where your heart beats strong. Here is a hint to your design. Here is a gift from your inner life, sent to remind you those things that make you come alive.”
I needed to hear that!
I have been called emotional before by someone who was trying to hurt me.
I do feel deeply and tears come to me easily.
But I do believe that this is a part of our “artist heart.” The ability to connect, and see, and feel. That is what makes us want to create.
Thank you for sharing this Emily.
Sometimes longing. Sometimes pain. Truth be told, sometimes Hallmark commercials.
But always reading scripture and praying. Just can’t do it without crying. Sometimes I long to be more matter-of-fact, but I always end up in a puddle.
I think it’s the ability to cry that makes us human. Sad tears, happy tears, all tears are the way our heart, whether we mean it to or not, involuntarily expresses overwhelming feeling and emotion. It can’t help itself and tears are the evidence. I’m thankful every day that I can cry. Seeing someone being genuinely kind to a child or a pet brings tears to my eyes, as does someone being thoughtless and cruel as well. I can tear up when I see a rainbow, a calm blue lake and the faces of my children. They’re used to it by now.
Thank you, Emily, for sharing and for your thought-provoking 31-days!
This is one of my favorite posts EVER.
I’ve honestly never thought of my tears as a hint to my design. You’ve made me want to pay close attention to those “tiny messages.” Thank you.
Stories on NPR sometimes. Dropping my kids off at school and watching their backpack backs head up the stairs into the brick building…even though I should be WAY past first-day-of-school tears.
My sister has what she calls “her daily well.” She wells-up at least once a day over something that moves her. I kind of wish I could cry that easily, but I don’t.
Love this post. I say that a lot around here, don’t I?
Such beautiful words……and thought. Thank you.
This dad-blame post made me cry!!! Ugh.
“Here is where your heart beats strong.” That did me in.
Your posts.
They make me cry.
I’m with the comment above me…’here is where your heart beats strong. here is a hint to your design.’ (Cue the tears…thanks for the ‘aha’ moment.)
The baptism and the father calling his son ‘brother’… amazing love! That would make me cry. Beautiful post xo
Emily,
It’s amazing how God speaks to His children…sometimes about the same thing at the same time! Last night I wrote my day #12 about tears …I find it so healing….both tears of joy and pain. He treasures us:)
watched the entire interview. so good emily! i love ya!!
Today it was the song “Carried to the Table” by Leeland. I had never heard it before. And it was my undoing. Not sure if you have ever heard it, but worth finding on Youtube.
on my way to listen now
The orphan. “My” orphan – one boy who is my heart’s son, even though the laws of man have said he’s too old to become officially our son, so he is in Ukraine. This boy makes me cry every time. I kissed his cheek in a sad goodbye at the Kiev airport a few weeks ago, after my husband and I spent a week with him, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever really stopped crying, or if it’s been more of a break in crying…
God tugs my heart to tears for the orphan, the least of these, the refugee kids I love, the orphan kids I love and those stories of redemption I see pushing up through the hard layers of life and loss.
Without fail. Every. Single. Time. I hear “Wind Beneath My Wings”. I always think of my mother who, although our relationship has its ups and downs, has been the lady on the back row sacrificing so much while it seems like I’ve received the praise. She’s worked hard. She’s been through a lot. She is stronger than any person I know, and today she had her 5th chemo session. Oh how I want to take her place right now and let her fly higher than an eagle. What a beautiful post.
what makes me cry? oh so much. and although I hadn’t really thought of it like this before – as tiny messengers and secret keepers – it makes perfect sense. I am overwhelmed at the creative ways God has wired us.
I’m loving this series. sometimes it makes me cry!
Lots of things make me cry…I’m a cryer!
true love expressed
strength revealed in adversity
the underdog overcoming
injustice
broken hearts
the ache for the unwanted and unnoticed
sheer beauty, especially when you least expect it
a dream realized
an answer to prayer…especially when it cost something in the believing
the presence of God felt by this girl He loves
<3 well said
Deep conviction over sin
Regret
Rudy
One time visiting a church, sitting in back, I teared up during worship. A woman next to me insisted on trying to comfort me. It was weird that she just couldn’t get it even though I explained what it was and that “my wife is right here, really, it’s ok.”
Yes. Yes. Yes. And now I’m tearing. I have a post coming up in a couple of days on just this and I. Am. So. Linking to you. This is so beautiful put. I’ve had a week of tearing up – and love your words that our tears are messengers. I’m praying for clarity around what they are saying.
Thank you so much. I think your statement that tears reveal where your heart beats strong just changed the whole way I view myself. Thank you.
The standard explanation for the frequency of tears in our family is this: “Our bladder lays right behind our eyes.” Our dad, who had the tenderest of hearts and weepiest of eyes passed away this summer, after being sad for three years that we’d lost our mom. At his memorial service, my brave sister got up to speak, there was NO way I could, and to a chapel full of folks she barely knew-offered through her own tears-our family’s creed. So, anything that reminds me of our parents makes me cry. Anytime the National Anthem is sung, or a military member is honored. Sports movies, and I don’t even like sports, but it’s the underdog thing, I think. Watching our two kids serve on the Worship Team and knowing they believe the songs they are singing. Words about redemption. On and on I could go.
I appreciate the context you offered on tears in this post. I’ve never seen them explained in such an appropriate manner. You have a gift, thank you for sharing it.
Every part of this post made me cry…I daren’t read all the comments…not that I mind crying…I don’t hold it in, even in public; I have given up worrying about the red face etc….but I sometimes just need to regulate how much I ‘go there’, as I am freshly healed from years of depression. I am most passionate about an individual (or group) having a life-changing revelation. From learning to read, to finding a medication that helps an unpleasant symptom, to an attitude change that solves a relationship problem…..to a heart opening to Christ’s reality! and there I go again!…
Wasted time, wasted life, missed opportunities to LIVE fully & Right, time wasted on the issues and not enough time given to LOVING the people and the life we were given. I guess not even recognizing the life and not seeing the needs & hearts of those we were blessed with….this makes me cry.
Andrew Peterson’s songs, pretty much all of them, touch something deep and often bring me to tears. Often joyful and longing tears.
Women sharing their hearts and their brokenness and their healing. The mystery of this life of faith and the author and perfecter of it, Jesus!
“Or maybe our tears are tiny messengers, secret keepers of the most vulnerable kind, sent to deliver a most important message – Here is where your heart beats strong. Here is a hint to your design. Here is a gift from your inner life, sent to remind you those things that make you come alive.” Haven’t ever quite thought about it that way. Love that! I am enjoying your writing on your blog soooo much!
Sweet Blessings,
Pam
There is beauty in a tear. The reflection of Jesus as He carefully collects, saves, and cherishes our joys and sorrows.
OMG! I just saw this post through Alene’s blog! You have touched my very soul! This about the tears adds a missing piece to the puzzle of my life!Thankyou so much! I will treasure this information you have opened up to me! I wish I could share with you my story!