The Tears and the Smiles

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5

Weddings are so much fun. I was blessed to attend another family wedding last weekend with my family. During the best man's toast, my cousin talked about the joy and the pain of life ahead for the newlyweds and how their family would stick together and stand by each other through it all. As I listened I couldn't help but think how often we romanticize life (not to mention marriage), unlike my cousin's loving perception of reality.

We wish people well and that they would have all happiness in their lives. We don't often talk about the tears. Earlier this summer I was looking for a wedding card for a friend who was getting married and found too many that wished the "happy couple" all the best and, literally, a painless ride. But that's not reality. Of course I want my cousins and friends to be happy in their marriages and lives and to have all the best. But tears are part of life. They enrich our lives.

Have you ever thought about what life would be like without tears? What if it was always happy and painless and pleasant? Wouldn't that grow dull? There are certainly times when we wish that the more painful things could be avoided, but they make the happy times all the sweeter. While heaven will be bliss without tears, life here on earth would be unbearable without them! My friend Amanda wrote in a Heart-to-Heart column back in December 2013: "I'm also grateful for feelings - emotions, expressions of love, forgiveness, surprise, joy, sadness... it makes life so colorful! The hard days only make the happy days sweeter, even though I may not see that in the moment. I'm thankful for it all!"

God didn't promises that life would be all smiles. We haven't made it to heaven yet, where He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4). For now, there will be tears. But what is truly beautiful is that He is there through it all.

In the times when we can't stop smiling, He is right there, giving us the blessings that make us smile: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17) and rejoicing with us and over us: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

At the same time, when He allows the pain and the tears just keep rolling down our cheeks or our hearts feel numb, He is there and He sees: You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? (Psalm 56:8). In our pain, He comforts us and blesses us with His peace and joy: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Think of it this way. God is the perfect Father (Matthew 5:48). He lavishes gifts on us (spiritual as well as physical) and when we smile, He smiles on us. Like any good father, He knows that the hard things in life grow and mold us, so He allows pain and suffering. But as a father comforts and cares for a hurting child, so God reaches down and comforts and cares for us. Imagine a child on his or her birthday, rejoicing over the attention and gifts and looking up at daddy with thanks and happiness. The father looks down with love, joy, and affection on his face. Then when a child cries over a skinned knee the daddy tends to it and hugs the child to his heart. So God, the perfect Daddy, reaches into our lives, through the smiles and the tears and graces our lives with His love and presence.

Life isn't all smiles. And it isn't all tears. It's both. God has molded our lives so beautifully as the Potter, working a pot of pain and happiness, laughter and crying, smiles and tears: But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8). He is with us every step of the way. Are you crying today? He is with you. Are you laughing today? He is still with you. Keep smiling and crying. Smiles and tears are some of God's greatest blessings.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ~ Isaiah 35:10

In Him,

Christina

Soli Deo Gloria ~ To God Alone Be the Glory!