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No Tear Wasted

July 19, 2012 - 5:00 am

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.  Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of our children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.” — Lamentations 2:18–19

Jewish tradition teaches that the Gates of Heaven are never closed to tears.

Tears are said to be the “sweat of the soul.” When we are moved to our core, we shed liquid drops called tears. God takes notice when we exert ourselves to such an extent. There is no surer sign that your prayers have been heard then if you complete your prayers drenched in the sweat of your soul.

Rabbi Aryeh Levin of Jerusalem was a man of incredible compassion and sensitivity. One day, a recently widowed woman came to him for comfort and solace. But try as he may, Rabbi Levin was unable to console her. Finally, the woman said “Rabbi, I will accept your words of comfort on the condition that you answer one question for me.”

“Anything,” the Rabbi said.

“Please tell me, Rabbi, what happened to all of my tears? I prayed and I prayed for my late husband, I recited chapter after chapter of Psalms, and I shed thousands upon thousands of tears. Were they all wasted?”

Very gently, the Rabbi said to her, “After you leave this world and ascend to the heavenly tribunal, you will see how meaningful and precious your tears were. You will discover that God himself gathered them in and counted every single teardrop and treasured it like a priceless gem. And you will discover that whenever a terrible harsh decree was threatening the world, one of your teardrops washed all of the evil away. Even one tear is a source of blessing and salvation!”

The Gates of Heaven are never closed to real, sincere tears, and no tear is ever wasted. Now, that doesn’t mean that we will always get what we ask for – even when we cry for it. But it does mean that we have created an extremely powerful source of blessing that will be showered upon us when the time is just right.

So don’t be afraid to cry out to the Lord, my friends. “Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.” Every tear you shed is so very precious to God, and you never know how or when your tears will bring blessings to the entire world.





     

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