Tears

Someone posted on Facebook last week that we should all stop crying for Haiti - what good does that do? Instead, the person said, we should reach out to our neighbors.

I totally understand the sentiment. It doesn't do much good for people to sit around saying how badly they feel. But I submit that we should do both: cry and reach out. Isn't that what Jesus did? He raised Lazarus from the dead, but He also wept.

For some reason, God made us as emotional beings. It seems that it would be more efficient if we didn't have feelings. I have read that scientists don't understand why we cry when we feel sad, or what purpose it serves. I just know that sometimes the tears come. As I see my friends and hear their earthquake stories and what they have gone through in the six months since, the tears flow. We grieve together because we love each other, and we love Haiti and we mourn the people and the places and the hope that are lost.

No, tears are not a substitute for doing something about Haiti, and I think we are all doing the best we can to contribute. But I have to believe that our tears are also acceptable to God, since Scripture tells us He keeps them all in a bottle. And maybe they are even "better than a Hallelujah sometimes."