It’s Okay To Cry

Jesus wept.

One leg crossed over the other, I traced alphabet letters in the air with the tip of my toe, word after word. The nervous habit was a bid to distract myself from the emotional moment playing out on the video screen above me. But even though my eyes were averted, I couldn’t unhear the narrator’s words. As the grief in the speaker’s voice rose in volume, I felt an answering grief rise in me. Tears gathered in my eyes as I tried to surreptitiously wipe them away, rifling through my purse for a tissue while hoping no one would notice.

The truth is, I’ve always been a person who cries a lot. I jokingly tell my friends that as long as I’m in the room, they’ll never cry alone because their tears will trigger mine. I’m a sympathy crier.

Sometimes I feel embarrassed that I’m moved to tears while others can remain stoic, but I try to remind myself that tears are essential. In fact, our bodies need them to function. Did you know that the human body creates three different kinds of tears? Our bodies produce reflex tears to get irritants out of our eyes and continuous tears to keep our eyes lubricated, but emotional tears have additional health benefits. According to biochemist Dr. William Frey, while reflex tears are 98 percent water, emotional tears collect stress hormones and other toxins that the body then releases during crying. Studies indicate that crying also stimulates endorphins, the hormones that help us feel better.^a Our tears serve a purpose.

I appreciate how Jesus—when faced with his friends’ grief over Lazarus’s death—cried alongside them. Even though he held the power of life and death in his hands and knew he could raise Lazarus from the dead, he still wept. His action reminds us that though he was God, he was also fully man, capable of entering into the fullness of our vulnerable humanity. While I’m comforted by the idea that he was moved to tears just as I sometimes am, I’m even more thankful for the unfailing compassion he willingly displayed.

Kristin

Today’s Act of Gratitude

The next time you cry, thank God for the gift of tears.