I didn’t know how good it is to cry until I couldn’t. Several years ago I lost the ability to cry. I miss it. We’re meant to have a good cry. From our first minutes of life, we release what we process through tears. In the years to follow, most of us practice managing and controlling the urge to tear up and “cry it out.” But COVID-19 has made us want to cry, for others and for ourselves. Have you felt the need? A good cry is a good gift from our good God.
God created us to be emotional creatures, reflecting His likeness. A good cry releases continuous tears, reflex tears or emotional tears.
- Continuous tears constantly soothe our eyes. It helps our vision.
- Reflex tears fall when debris gets in our eye. It helps us physically.
- Emotional tears fall when debris gets in our life. It helps our pain.
- Some tears (tears of joy!) happen when joy overflows. It helps our hearts.
If you’ve been feeling like you need a good cry, it’s evidence of your divine design for your good. Crying gets our attention to acknowledge the size of what we’re facing. Whether we’ve been individually infected or indirectly impacted by COVID-19, it’s likely we’ve had emotional tears building up. Unlike continuous tears that are mainly water, emotional tears contain toxins and stress hormones. “Feeling tears” flush out unhealthy things. God designed us with tears to diffuse the weight of the world.
When you can’t cry or won’t cry, the tension you feel in your forehead has no place to go, and the pressure in your nervous system piles up. When we face pain, injury, or reality shocking our system, tears help us diffuse the force of it all. Aging Care reports that, “85 percent of women and 73 percent of men feel less sad and angry after shedding some tears.” We feel better when we have a good cry.
What a Good Cry Can Do
- Benefit health by relieving stress, lowering blood pressure and negative toxins in our body.
- Benefit relationships by helping us connect with those in our community, reinforcing empathy between us.
- Benefit emotional wellness by releasing endorphins and helping us be calm and self-soothe.
What Crying Can’t Do
Crying can’t change our circumstances, though tears are a helpful gift in dealing with the weight of the circumstances. It can help us come to terms with the size of our need and seek out ways to support, soothe, or solve that need.
The Bible tells us truths we should know about tears.
- Our tears don’t need to lead to despair. – “Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
- Our tears are counted by God. “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8)
- Our tears won’t last forever. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
We weren’t meant to sad-cry or pain-cry, but when God’s perfect plan for people was disrupted by the first people, those tears came with their rebellion. We have them to thank for those ugly, snot-dripping moments in life! The word for “sorrow” is first used in God’s conversation with Adam and Eve about their disobedience(Here in Genesis 3). By rejecting their Maker’s ways, they invited sorrow into their peaceful garden and into our could’ve-been-peaceful lives. COVID-19 falls into the sorrow category. It’s there with rebellious choices like deceit, selfishness, betrayal, anger, and greed. A good cry points us to the size of a need we shouldn’t ignore.
God didn’t stop wanting us to know Him, so He made another way to draw us near. Perhaps tears remind us now that what we really need and want is coming, when the God who counts our tears will wipe away every last one. It’s a day worth being ready for and waiting for.
Life is hard and COVID-19 has made it harder. If you feel like you need to have a good cry, you do. It’s a gift from God, and when we embrace it, it helps.
If a good cry made you realize you have a God-sized need, you might consider how God wants to care for you. This explains how we have a relationship with God’s Son Jesus now.
