This Sunday, I was greeted with tears as a parishioner shared her fear about her mother in the ICU on a respirator with Covid. Worse, the family is not allowed to come to the hospital because their mother is on the restricted Covid unit.
I can only imagine this daughter, her sister and brother wanting desperately to be with their mom at this time. However, I have no doubt that the intensive care nurses are providing comfort to their mom to let her know that she is not alone. So why did she feel like crying?
We often try to avoid giving into tears. Maybe we do not want to upset others. Maybe we do not want to look ridiculous coming to church with tears in our eyes. Or maybe we do not want to look weak. But why do we think showing emotion is weak? Is it not just human?
I wonder sometimes: what if instead I thought showing emotion was a sign of strength? After all, paying attention to emotions is central to be spiritual. Jesus taught that the movements in our souls tell us something about what God wants us to hear. If I am not willing to sit with and feel those emotions, however, how can we get out of them what God intends?
As this daughter places her mother into the hands of Jesus, I wonder what it would look like if I considered a crisis moment to be a time to experience emotion with Jesus. What would happen if we walked with Jesus down the road to Calvary and tried to feel with Him every step of the way? What if we let ourselves experience the emotions that He must have been feeling as he was rejected, scorned, whipped, and made to carry a cross? What if we stood by him while he hung on the Cross and just let the tears fall?
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have tears in their eyes. Let them know this is a sign of strength. This be a way that allows us to connect with others. May our tears become a prayer that connects us with Jesus and makes His passion our passion as well and brings us comfort and peace.
