Weep – to express grief, sorrow, or any overpowering emotion by shedding tears
When is the last time you really cried, wept? When were you recently overwhelmed with emotion and tears? I wear my heart all over my sleeves and face so people who are close to me have definitely seen me cry. But weep with overwhelming emotion? That’s usually reserved for the confines of my bathroom. My ugly tears come quickest when I can shut out the world in my bathroom.
My last ugly cry was a result of news that evoked anger, grief, and heartfelt compassion all rolled into one. Every angle of the situation and every person involved made me feel “all the things” and tears erupted.
This current state of our country and world has filled me with overpowering emotion. My kids have had the best school year to date, mainly because of incredible teachers. Now they will be home and not return for the remainder of the school year. One child weeps for her friends and beloved teacher. The other weeps for this never ending time-out that has entered his life.
Every ten years or so, there seems to be a devastating event that hits the bedrock of our lives. We are shaken by all that it happening around us and grieving over the heaviness of it all. In my lifetime, I vividly recall the Challenger explosion, Desert Storm, Columbine, 9-11, and Hurricane Katrina. Each, especially as I have gotten older, has brought more sorrow into my heart than I knew I could feel.
The Corona virus is a whole different level of grief. Now, along with trying to manage my grief through it all, I am also trying to help my children grieve. As I type this, one child has been sitting with me for over an hour, not saying a word, yet making movements that express the hurt felt within.
Sitting in your grief isn’t easy, but necessary.
I am reminded of the few times it is recorded in scripture that Jesus was overpowered with emotion. In John 11, he had just received word that one of his closest friends had died. When he made the journey to see Lazarus’ sisters several days later, it wasn’t until he was on his way to the tomb and saw people he cared about who were crying, “he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled”. John 11:35 says “Jesus wept” and when he approached the tomb he was “deeply moved again”. We see Jesus’ humanity as he grieves deeply for his friends. Jesus, God in human form, who knows the beginning of time to the end, enters into our grief with us.
We want to cover it up, run from it, or stuff it down so far we can’t feel anymore, but our overpowering emotion will eventually erupt in the wrong place, at the wrong time, on the wrong person. So for now, enter into your grief. It doesn’t mean you don’t trust God, you’ve lost your joy, or you aren’t a good Christian. It means you are human and just like Jesus, you feel the pain of humanity and just how cruel life can be.
I am not going to tie this post up with a perfect bow. For now, I weep. Let’s sit in our grief together.
With all of the virtual hugs I can possibly give,
Leah
Leah Lively 